00:00the raiders uh have a lot of questions this offseason because listen i i i really like all
00:05the moves that they made d fish i really do they made some actually very great moves obviously the
00:10first pick overall everybody was looking at mendoza and i immediately raised my hand while
00:14going like well if we're bringing in mendoza is geno smith going to be your guy i'm assuming the
00:19answer is no so of course they moved geno smith over to the jets and i started just yelling one
00:23name i've never been the biggest fan of this name but listen there was something about it that
00:29seemed like a really big fit for me because we're going to pick out this weird kid mendoza
00:34we need a weird veteran to kind of usher him in and cue in kurt cousins kurt cousins gets picked
00:41up by
00:41the raiders not to mention on top of that another nice movie that i thought the raiders made this
00:45offseason which was getting tyler lindenbaum uh tyler linderbaum is the best center in this game
00:50he is now the highest paid center in the nfl which is great because the raiders have had no line
00:56to
00:56protect anybody so now that you got this young quarterback it's good that you get your hands
01:01on some guys to protect them not to mention ashton genti as the running back the guy was a first
01:06rounder last year i've had the the opportunity to interview him a few times seems like the sweetest
01:11brightest kid i want him to be successful for this team out of boise state but last year this guy
01:17had
01:17to break like 19 tackles before he even got to the line it was a nightmare watching this guy try
01:23to
01:24get something going new start new head coach front office giving another shot but i i do want to ask
01:31you about that real quick this is something that like i've always wanted to push back on people
01:35because when people are talking about the raiders like well you're gonna be fine tom brady's at the
01:39helm because he's one of the owners and he's supposedly making those decisions what about tom brady
01:45in ever like i agree he's maybe the greatest quarterback of all time he's a legend no question
01:51but what about tom brady's history am i supposed to believe that he's going to write the ship for
01:58the raiders in a front office capacity because so far in his couple years of being a guy running the
02:03front office capacity he hired that entire team last year he hired our coaching staff last year
02:10half of which was fired before the season was over not to mention head coach pete carroll being let go
02:15right after the season was done yeah i'm not certain on even the timing of like is he unilaterally making
02:22these decisions are we we don't know that's the other thing like we're we're kind of told the
02:27narrative is that tom brady's making decisions and he's really at the helm behind it all but
02:32we don't know for sure they do have a very good gm in kubiak yeah that's got to be i
02:39mean there has to
02:40be some chain of command in terms of you know whether general manager or or you know vp of
02:47football personnel or operations etc i'm sorry spy tech not not kubiak yeah i don't know if um i don't
02:55know if tom brady would be making these decisions alone but it also takes time regardless of how good
03:00you are uh or bad you are even um it takes a little time to kind of figure out your
03:07processes your
03:08systems you know how you're going to make the decisions what type of players are you targeting
03:13uh you know who's coaching and what style of play you know is an offensive minded group is it a
03:18defensive minded group uh what's your salary cap situation and so all of those things go into it
03:24i i would say tom brady not necessarily from i mean he's not the general manager so he's not he's
03:32not
03:32the one running the the cap numbers and and trying to figure out the exceptions in the contracts and
03:38the bonus structures etc but i do believe you know his feel and eye for like what good football is
03:46supposed to look like um as a quarterback that you are an extension of the coaching staff you've been in
03:52so many conversations with head coaches with offensive coordinators uh probably even you know kind of
03:59having some back and forth with defensive coordinators about situational football um and so
04:05you do have a sense of you know what what should this look like what what does our offensive line
04:11need
04:12to look like you know we're going to have the number one pick we're going to draft a young quarterback
04:18what does our offensive line need to look like to protect a kid like this that likes to throw the
04:23ball
04:23this way or he's good at getting the ball out quick or he likes more of the downfield throws so
04:28we our left tackle needs to look like this our right tackle needs to look like this
04:32i think tom brady would have a great feel for those he should i mean he is tom brady
04:38and then i think defensively as well like he's played against every defense and some of the greatest
04:45defensive players we'll ever know of unquestionably and played with them too yes and and practiced
04:50against them and played with them and so also having a sense for not just when you watch a guy
04:56on video what does he look like you know what are his stats how many tackles does he have etc
05:01but
05:01in the interview process during draft uh during free agent visits etc like having his perspective and
05:09or insight in the room to me would be golden again there should be a gap between having his insight
05:16his perspective and being able to pull on that and call on that but then executing the decision
05:23probably should still be folks that are football executives that kind of understand some of the
05:28ins and outs of you know contracts and negotiations and salary cap structures etc at a deeper level than
05:34maybe what he does right now yeah and uh by the way you did ask question are they gonna be
05:38offensive
05:38or defense i want to believe they're gonna be a more offensively minded team this year and the
05:43reason why is because they hired clint kubiak he was the offensive coordinator in seattle um you know
05:48defending champions over there won the super bowl i'm excited about this thing but now the question
05:54kind of becomes when do you roll out mendoza your first pick overall you go ahead and you pick up
06:00uh
06:01clint uh kirk cousins i i really like that pickup and obviously they seem to be getting along fine if
06:06you believe the schedule release video where they did the stepbrothers thing just two awkward awkward
06:11middle-aged men hanging out together which i'm like agreed go all in on this i i know the raiders
06:17have a reputation of being who am i kidding i'm one of their fans criminals we're looked at as
06:23criminals us raiders and our raider fans we are looked like we are criminals we we wear spikes we
06:28are road warriors and we show up for a team that does nothing but disappoint us year in year out
06:34however this does feel like a legitimate chance for a new beginning for the raiders but not
06:40withstanding they're inarguably one of the toughest divisions in the nfl the afc west they still got
06:45patrick mahomes they got to deal with they still got to deal with the chargers hey listen everyone
06:50knows what i think about the chargers i can't stand the chargers i in fact hate the chargers i can't
06:56stand the chargers are in la i think they belong in san diego no one here likes the chargers but
07:02i know
07:02the chargers are damn good i know justin herbert could throw that damn football i know they're
07:07going to be good until january when they eventually get knocked out of the playoffs and then of course
07:12you also have the broncos who were just one play away from pretty much going all the way it's just
07:19what can i say i yeah it's a tough division it's a tough division the raiders got a long way
07:24to go so
07:24my question for you is how long do you hold off using a mr mendoza this season do we even
07:32see him this year like you you can make the argument do we sit him a year do we do
07:36the
07:36jordan love patrick mahomes thing and see if we can hold off so we can really hit that hit rate
07:42that
07:42everybody loves to espouse i mean i think you i would assume yeah i would assume with kirk cousins
07:49the conversation they had to have with kirk cousins was like he's going to have a legit opportunity to be
07:54qb1 yeah at least to start this scenario and i don't know if you predetermine
07:59you know okay by week four or week six like we're just definitely going to make the change
08:04i do think it has to be more in real time based on how's the team playing how's the team
08:10performing
08:10um you know if if the guys are bought in you know to to cousins as a leader and as
08:16a voice of of the
08:17team and of the offense and if they're if they're going good if if the raiders are three and three
08:22through six weeks four and two why change it at that point right i think the only time you
08:28probably have to think about having the conversation is if things are going really really bad and you're
08:34not going to watch kirk cousins get destroyed all year and and and get beat up um and so yeah
08:40you
08:40don't want to throw mendoza into a bad situation but you you as a raiders fan you're not going to
08:47sit
08:47there for more than five or six weeks oh if it's going it'll get loud yeah it'll get loud bad
08:52then
08:53the change is definitely going to come but i i i have a sense i mean you start out with
08:58the
08:58dolphins the chargers the saints but then they hit a they hit a patch that i got to admit i
09:04don't want
09:04mendoza anywhere near the field during these games because that's understandable yeah chiefs
09:08patriots bills rams that's a that's a that's a gauntlet of a of a month no it is but it's
09:14i mean
09:15hopefully cousins can you know build some rhythm and some confidence in those first three weeks
09:20and then yeah get you through that stretch maybe you see mendoza against the jets on november 1st but
09:25before that probably i don't know if if if you should pull it off that quickly
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