Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast the Latest on the GM Search, NFL Draft Information, and Much More
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00:00 >> Hi, everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation,
00:05 Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:07 It's great to be with you today, hope you're doing well.
00:10 I'm back here in Vegas, I came back, no breaking news, but
00:15 in anticipatory that there will eventually be a press conference here sooner rather
00:20 than later with AP and to announce the new general manager I wanted to be here.
00:26 So I left the hunt and trip to be here ready for it.
00:30 Again, I have no breaking news that any deal is done or anything else.
00:36 I still expect Champ Kelly to be named the general manager.
00:42 And I expect this is going to happen sooner rather than later.
00:47 And I'll get into all of those reasons today of why I believe that
00:52 it's experience guided by common sense, number one.
00:57 And then number two, I've got some really fascinating draft news,
01:03 very fascinating.
01:05 Now, many of you are aware that we do a mock draft Monday,
01:11 leading up to the draft every single year, we do it in detail.
01:17 As far as I know, we were the only media service that even told you about
01:22 Alex Leatherwood whether you like the pick or not, and I clearly don't think anybody did.
01:29 We were the only ones talking about it and about his potential there.
01:34 In fact, I was on Raider Nation Radio at the time and
01:38 we brought on a former Alabama coach to talk about Alex Leatherwood.
01:42 Because we had heard so much about the Raiders and their interest in him.
01:46 So I'm going to have some really fascinating news about
01:52 the Raiders in the draft, just some stuff coming up.
01:58 But let's quickly get to, again,
02:00 this is not going to be the longest podcast in the world.
02:04 I just have three primary things to talk about.
02:09 And then, but obviously, anticipatory that whenever the news finally does break,
02:15 we'll of course have another lengthy podcast about how it all settles out.
02:21 So let's start first of all, with experience guided by common sense and
02:27 why I think that this is coming to an end quickly.
02:31 I was told by someone that used to work for the Raiders.
02:36 When I came here five years ago to cover this team, he goes,
02:40 one thing you need to know about the Raiders is they never do things the easy way.
02:45 He goes, they'll always find a way of just creating drama or
02:52 having some type of unnecessary trouble.
03:00 He goes, that's just the way the whole organization has been for a long time.
03:03 I've got here and
03:06 we could go over a litany of things that have happened in that time.
03:09 There are some franchises that just seem to operate decently and in order.
03:19 I think that's a great way to,
03:22 then there are some that just kind of beat to their own drum and things happened.
03:27 And nothing you can do about it.
03:30 The Raiders wanted to hire a GM first.
03:32 The pressure was mounting from fans and players to hire AP.
03:38 They could not come to a sense of agreement on the GM.
03:43 So they went ahead and announced it on Friday.
03:45 Now, lots of great professional people work at the Raiders.
03:51 So I've had a couple people say, why would the PR people do this?
03:56 That's not on the PR people.
03:58 They can't control when the owner chooses to do stuff and
04:01 when the owner chooses not to do stuff.
04:06 I believe if Mark had went to his PR people and
04:11 say, what's a good time frame for this?
04:13 Or the point is he's been an owner long enough.
04:15 He should have thought about it.
04:17 I mean, you knew what you really wanted to do.
04:20 You either say, well, we're gonna get a GM first and
04:23 then do it decently in an order.
04:26 But if you're gonna announce AP first, then you do it on Thursday.
04:32 Or at the latest Friday morning, which for
04:34 reasons I've already discussed about the Friday news.
04:36 I need to check because this may be a call that I need to take for you.
04:42 Okay, it is an important call.
04:44 And it's a call that I'll take and I'll answer after the podcast.
04:53 But it could be something about a future podcast.
04:55 Apologize about that, wasn't trying to be disrespectful.
05:01 And so they went ahead and hired AP.
05:04 Then it's down to Dodds and to Champ Kelly.
05:10 Now, Ed Dodds, very good rising guy.
05:15 He's been with Indianapolis for seven years.
05:19 He was with Seattle for that.
05:21 He's been in the NFL 21 years.
05:23 Never been in the general manager's chair.
05:26 Champ Kelly has, is not intimately familiar with this team like Champ Kelly is.
05:33 I hear a lot of people say, what has Champ Kelly done?
05:38 I'm just so frustrated with, I mean, don't make, you can do whatever you want.
05:44 But I don't understand people that just make comments cuz they wanna be heard.
05:48 Or I don't like this hire, so I'm gonna come out against it and
05:53 try to sell it, sounds smart.
05:55 If you talk about what has Champ Kelly done, you really make yourself look foolish.
06:01 Now you can come out and say, he's done this, this, and this, but
06:05 I really want somebody with more experience who's been in the chair.
06:09 That's a fair argument.
06:11 I have no issue with that argument.
06:13 But when you say, what has Champ done?
06:14 You're literally saying, hey, I'm an idiot.
06:16 Can you spoon feed me because I don't listen to anybody and
06:22 I'm too lazy to go off on my own.
06:25 And here's the truth.
06:27 When you look at what he did with the Broncos, with Peyton Manning and
06:33 all of the success they had.
06:35 When you went and looked at what they actually did in Chicago when he was there.
06:40 When you looked at the departments that he ran, the things that were done.
06:44 I mean, I've talked about it ad nauseum, I'm not doing it again.
06:48 When you look at the things that he was a part of, okay?
06:51 Then you come back and look at the total redevelopment of the Raiders
06:55 scouting system.
06:57 When you look at all the things he had his hands in, one of the things that
07:00 Dave Ziegler personally told me he respected about Champ Kelly was that
07:07 Champ knew that he was the assistant, knew that Dave was the general manager.
07:12 But he always could trust that Champ was gonna give him his honest and
07:17 real opinion, even when he disagreed.
07:20 Now, a great AGM is there's no delineation between him and the staff.
07:28 I mean, I've already wrote about the differences between Ziegler and
07:32 McDaniels, I already wrote about it.
07:36 And at length, and Ian Rapoport discussed it and multiple others.
07:46 I realize there's some people who disagreed with my reporting, that's fine.
07:50 It's not the end of the world, not the end of the world at all.
07:53 If somebody is told something by someone,
07:57 they're gonna report what they know, that's fine.
08:02 I reported that Devante Adams was coming to the Raiders.
08:05 More than one person said, not happening, he's not coming, okay?
08:12 Didn't mean that they were bad people, that was probably what they were hearing.
08:16 I just happened to be hearing it from better sources, and he's here.
08:21 Same thing happened with Josh McDaniels.
08:22 When I said Josh McDaniels was a candidate, no he wasn't.
08:27 And when I said Josh McDaniels was gonna get the job, no he isn't, he did.
08:31 Didn't mean people were bad, you don't know who they're listening to.
08:34 So if somebody says, hey, I really wanted a guy with experience.
08:40 Let's go pay the extra money and
08:41 make John Lynch the highest paid general manager in the NFL.
08:45 I'm just using him as an example, so 49er haters, don't blow me up.
08:49 I'm just using it as an example.
08:50 Okay, I can see that argument.
08:54 I can see it, it's germane, but just what did Champ do?
08:57 My dad used to say, better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it.
09:04 And so Champ has done a ton.
09:11 He's super respected around the NFL, a lot like Ron Wolfe.
09:14 I talked with an NFL president yesterday, I think it was yesterday.
09:23 This is super early in the morning on Monday.
09:26 It may have been Saturday night, but I think it was yesterday that said,
09:31 what are they doing?
09:31 This is a no brainer with Champ.
09:34 Champ wanted AP, look at the job AP.
09:38 If AP earned the job, Champ's the one that wanted him.
09:41 And you look at what he's done for the franchise, this is a no brainer.
09:43 But Raiders just seem to make it more difficult on themselves.
09:48 Now listen, you may say, man, I like Champ.
09:52 I prefer Dodds, both of them have good resumes.
09:57 Fine, that's legitimate.
09:59 That's legitimate.
10:02 But I literally had someone say, only one person, but
10:06 say almost the same thing about Dodds.
10:09 Why would we consider Dodds?
10:10 What has he done?
10:11 Well, you sound ignorant.
10:12 He has a great resume.
10:14 Do I think for the Raiders, he's as good of an option as Champ?
10:20 Nope.
10:21 Do I think Champ will end up in that seat?
10:23 Yes, he's already there.
10:25 But the point is, if you want to get involved in a discussion,
10:33 make the discussion germane.
10:37 Understand, do your research, listen to people who have, give you the information.
10:42 But what happens is, people so badly want to win an argument or
10:49 be proven correct, that when they don't have the information
10:56 to lay out their position, it just goes into attack mode.
10:59 I mean, we see it all the time.
11:02 Dear Lord, I don't care what your politics are.
11:06 Is there anybody in America that's not tired of political TV?
11:10 One group constantly just destroying the others.
11:15 I said to someone the other day, they said, it was a fan that said, hey,
11:21 what do you think about the election?
11:22 I said, people don't turn into my podcast because they want my political opinions.
11:28 If I want to give my political opinions,
11:31 then I should get a political podcast or become a political writer.
11:35 I don't get into it here.
11:37 I don't think it's proper.
11:40 Okay, but it's becoming in politics today,
11:45 that you have people on both sides can't even talk to one another.
11:49 I was visiting with someone recently,
11:53 who said that they didn't go to Christmas dinner with their family,
12:00 because multiple members of the family disagree with their politics and said,
12:05 if they come, we're not going to be there.
12:07 How stupid is that?
12:10 This is your kinfolk.
12:11 You can disagree.
12:14 I'm very adamant about my political beliefs and we'll never discuss them here.
12:18 My family is my family.
12:22 My friends are my friends.
12:25 I have so many people that disagree with me politically,
12:30 that I just love dearly and cherish.
12:35 I'm not throwing people away.
12:36 What happens is, if you don't agree with my argument, gee, I'm going to throw you away.
12:41 Now, I think sports talk shows lend to this,
12:47 because it's just people screaming at each other.
12:51 I mean, I was trying to listen today to a sports talk show,
12:54 and one person saying that, Josh Allen is terrible, he'll never be great.
13:00 He didn't rise to an occasion.
13:03 And then another person, Josh, what about all the drop passes?
13:08 Josh Allen's better than Mahomes.
13:11 And it just turned to name calling, click.
13:13 The Raiders need to do this decision.
13:18 And I'm going to tell you right now, if you don't want Champ Kelly,
13:21 then you should be praying that this decision gets done,
13:27 should have been done a long time ago,
13:29 because the new guy has to be able to come in, assemble a staff,
13:33 sit down with AP, discuss numerous issues about style, player.
13:41 They're going to have to do evaluations,
13:44 because they're not going to want to trust the evaluations that are here now.
13:47 I'll give you a great one.
13:49 I have a friend that was a very successful NFL offensive lineman.
13:56 And he was a very tremendous offensive lineman in a zone scheme.
14:03 It was his strength.
14:04 It was his strength.
14:05 So a new general manager comes in.
14:10 He doesn't want to run zone.
14:12 And he comes to this guy and says, listen, I reviewed it.
14:16 You're a great player.
14:17 You've got a lot of value.
14:18 I'm going to be trading you, because I want to move away from the zone.
14:23 And there's a couple of zone teams that need an offensive lineman at your position
14:26 that I know we can get maximum value for you.
14:29 It's not a statement that you're not a great player,
14:32 just you don't fit our system.
14:34 Same exact scenario.
14:38 So you bring in a new GM.
14:41 They need to sit down and spend, and a champ knows what AP wants.
14:44 I can tell you right now that Dodds, I'm sure, has an idea of what he wants,
14:51 but he does not have any lengthy discussion with AP, strategies, plans.
14:58 That's not something that has been disseminated in great detail.
15:05 Doesn't mean they haven't had a conversation, but nothing's been disseminated in detail.
15:12 So if you're going away from champ, get the guy in now or the gal.
15:16 Get him in now.
15:17 Why just sit here?
15:20 How long will you stand between two opinions?
15:23 It's champ or Dodds.
15:26 Make the decision that the organization looks foolish.
15:31 It looks foolish.
15:34 Hang on, I'm making sure this isn't for us.
15:37 So make your decision.
15:43 Okay, Mark Davis, you've heard out your committee.
15:49 You respect your committee.
15:50 Now you're the owner.
15:53 Make the decision.
15:56 To me, this is a no-brainer.
15:59 You go with champ.
16:00 If they go outside of champ, and I will write about it and talk about it in detail,
16:05 it just hurts the organization.
16:10 Now, the longer it goes, I think it helps champ even more because he's in the chair.
16:18 He's doing the job.
16:19 And it keeps moving.
16:21 So again, it goes back to Harbaugh AP.
16:25 I thought AP should get the job.
16:26 But anybody that dismissed Jim Harbaugh, and you saw it there, he's terribly sucked.
16:35 Come on, Jim Harbaugh doesn't suck as a coach.
16:37 The guy's a proven winner.
16:40 That's just what's dumb.
16:43 Don't be that person.
16:44 Don't be that person, not just with your Raiders.
16:47 Don't be that person with anybody in your life.
16:50 If somebody disagrees with you, listen to what they say.
16:53 I have people all the time say, "Hondo, I wish you wouldn't listen to your critics."
16:55 No, I think it's important to.
16:57 I don't need them to love me.
16:59 I'm not sitting here with an ego that's hurt.
17:02 "Oh, somebody doesn't love me."
17:04 No, don't care.
17:05 But I think it's important to listen to people.
17:08 We have lost the art of listening.
17:10 We've just become, we just yell at everybody.
17:17 We just yell at them.
17:18 I, the other day saw a parent whose kid is running through the airport like an animal.
17:28 Just running through the airport.
17:29 Screaming at him.
17:32 And I thought to myself, "You look like the idiot."
17:37 If you had disciplined your child and taught your child how to behave in public,
17:44 they wouldn't be doing that.
17:45 Now you want to yell at them because they embarrassed you?
17:48 Give me a break.
17:49 Again, don't be that person.
17:52 Be somebody that can talk to people, listen to people.
17:55 Okay, I'll give you another one.
17:57 I like a quarterback that has some mobility.
18:00 I've said that numerous times.
18:02 I don't like one that runs too quickly.
18:05 Listen, I think Joe Burrow is a great quarterback with Cincinnati, but I've told you before.
18:09 And I've had other people tell me this.
18:12 I think he takes off too quick.
18:14 Josh Allen, he's a guy that he is sneaky.
18:18 He will stay in the pocket, stay in the pocket, stay in the pocket and then run.
18:22 And if you looked at all his yards, you'd think, "Man, he runs too quick."
18:25 He doesn't.
18:25 Josh Allen is a stud.
18:27 Okay.
18:27 Mahomes is the best.
18:29 He is phenomenal the way he stays in the pocket till the very last second.
18:36 Okay.
18:37 I like all of that.
18:38 But are you telling me Tom Brady wasn't a great quarterback?
18:42 He was.
18:43 And I think he got better when he found his mobility a little bit.
18:48 People knew, all right, he's not the fastest guy, but you got to take into account, he may run.
18:58 There was no wimping in Tom Brady.
19:00 But to act like, you know, it's just like people who will just randomly say, you know,
19:08 "Well, AP, he was a rah-rah guy."
19:10 Okay.
19:11 See, you're never going to fix stupid.
19:13 So don't get in an argument with stupid people.
19:15 But be a person that can listen and have a germane discussion.
19:23 You may learn a lot.
19:25 There's a lot to learn.
19:27 That's one thing I love about the game of football, the more I'm around it.
19:31 And I've been around it my whole life, but the more I'm around it, the more I'm learning.
19:36 And I've been around it my whole life, but the more I'm around it and around the great ones,
19:41 you learn so much.
19:43 You learn so much.
19:45 And it's like Mark Davis, why does he want consensus?
19:50 I was told by somebody who knows Mark very well that he was raised around the chaos that was the Raiders.
19:58 And that he wants consensus, he wants things to be in unity because the Raiders weren't for so long.
20:06 You go back and look at Al and Lane and Al and other coaches, there's that dissension.
20:14 He wanted that unity.
20:16 You know what?
20:16 I think that's honorable of Mark Davis.
20:19 I think that's honorable.
20:23 He loves his dad, but he looks and says, "Okay, you know what?
20:26 I want to maybe do things a little different."
20:28 Okay.
20:29 I was talking to Mark Davis one time and he told me, you know, one of the criticisms my dad had of me
20:36 was he thought I was too close to the players.
20:37 He listened to him.
20:40 Now, clearly, he takes a little bit of a different approach and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
20:47 But to just clearly dismiss people and to not know why they feel that way.
20:53 You know, I had somebody yesterday on Twitter and I don't remember who it was, made a comment about Champ and all I put was, "Wow."
21:01 I'm just like, "Unbelievable."
21:04 At least do some research.
21:06 Just, well, you know, my opinion is, okay, well, your opinion without information, in my opinion, without information is worthless.
21:20 So that is what's going on right now.
21:24 No decision as of the taping, which is early Monday morning, has yet to be made.
21:31 There is dissension.
21:33 Someone asked me, "Do you think there is a possibility that if the group can't decide on Champ or Dodds, that maybe they go to a different candidate that they all can agree on?"
21:45 I certainly think that's a possibility.
21:46 My good buddy, T'Shawn Reed of The Athletic, reported that, that there were a couple of people still possibly in it.
21:54 And by the way, what a good reporter T'Shawn is.
21:58 What a good guy, too.
21:59 I wish you all could know him.
22:00 Really, really good guy.
22:02 So do I think there's that possibility?
22:07 Yes, but I don't think, I think it's so minuscule.
22:11 I think it's Dodds or Kelly, and I think I still expect Kelly to get the job.
22:15 Again, it's just based on education, or excuse me, experience, based on education, based on information.
22:30 That's what I think.
22:31 Could totally be wrong.
22:32 That's why I'm not reporting it as a definitive at all.
22:37 Just give that to a hondo hunch.
22:39 All right.
22:40 I want to go to the draft because there is a player.
22:46 Now, you all may remember, I mentioned Alex Leatherwood.
22:54 You know, we were the only ones talking about Alex Leatherwood.
22:57 We were talking about Kalei Jokansi last year, who the Raiders loved.
23:03 Loved Kalei Jokansi.
23:07 They didn't like him.
23:08 They loved him.
23:10 He was very high on their draft board.
23:12 And you see what he's doing for the Bucs.
23:14 There was another guy on the board, an offensive lineman from North Dakota that they really, really like that got picked right in front of them.
23:25 I know for a fact last year, the Dolphins loved, not the Dolphins, the Broncos loved Aiden O'Connell and were trying to get up to get him when the Raiders selected him.
23:38 So draft information is very important.
23:43 Now, I get my draft information for those of you that weren't following last year from several sources.
23:49 Number one, I talked to scouts of a ton of different teams.
23:52 I talked to coaches at a ton of different colleges.
23:56 I talked to other NFL people, talked to people with the Raiders.
24:01 And I want to find out.
24:05 So I'll give you a couple of examples.
24:09 Last year.
24:11 I was told at the combine.
24:21 The combine that Bryce Young and CJ Stroud were the two guys that the Raiders were giving a ton of attention to.
24:30 I learned at the combine that the Raiders had looked at the cost to move up to one and they could have, by the way.
24:45 Or let me rephrase that, the Raiders knew what the cost was and the Raiders knew what it would cost to get to one.
24:53 I know that factually.
24:55 I was told that by a senior member of management.
24:59 This is what number one would cost.
25:02 That's too high.
25:03 They also knew what the cost would be to get up to number two.
25:06 It was also very high.
25:11 I learned shortly after the combine by someone at another team that Josh McDaniels was very much like Bryce Young.
25:22 And that same person told me that Dave Ziegener was a big CJ Stroud guy, or I was actually told Dave and the scouting department are big on CJ.
25:38 That was the exact wording.
25:41 All right.
25:42 So I asked, I was told it's correct.
25:48 I asked another party, was told that's correct.
25:52 And was asked, please just don't report it.
25:56 Not looking to cause any stress or drama.
26:00 And at that point, it wasn't a big enough deal for me to report.
26:06 And it was just basically asked, you know, we don't want people knowing what we want to do in case we have a chance to trade the pick and it would hurt the Raiders.
26:19 Now, I can tell you this as a journalist, I don't hold any, I've had lots of stories people ask me not to report that I report.
26:27 But I don't do things that will be harmful to the organization.
26:33 Okay.
26:34 I'll give you an example.
26:36 I hinted multiple times, not hinted, I talked about there being disagreements between Josh and Dave, but I never got into the details until after they were here.
26:45 I'm not out to hurt the Raiders.
26:49 I know reporters who get information and just dump it real quick because it's about clicks and then hurt the organization.
26:57 I don't think that's smart.
27:01 Many of you saw me on NFL Network when Matt Millen, when they did a football life on Matt Millen.
27:06 And when Matt Millen was running the Detroit Lions, I was, you've heard me tell the story about how Steve Mariucci was hired and Matt got fined 200 grand.
27:21 And Matt said to me, please don't report this.
27:27 It's just going to cause division between me and those above me.
27:30 And I just want the Lions to succeed.
27:35 Okay.
27:36 I thought, you know, that's fair.
27:39 And then when Matt was no longer there and I was allowed to report it, he just asked me not to use the name of the person.
27:45 He doesn't want to hurt people.
27:49 I respect that.
27:51 One day, and you'll know when that day is.
27:54 I have a lot I'm going to say, but not at this moment.
27:58 So I knew that the Raiders were split.
28:01 I also knew that Josh McDaniels was going to have the say.
28:08 Now, Mark Davis also said to Tishawn, which in a great piece that Tishawn did at the latest owners meeting, that Dave had final say whether he chose to use it or not is a different story.
28:23 Mark never disagreed with my reporting at all.
28:29 At all.
28:33 And so to me, all I reported last year was there was one quarterback that the Raiders would move up and take.
28:43 And I didn't even expect them to move up because the cost was expensive.
28:47 But if that person dropped to where they were, they would take the one quarterback.
28:52 People would say to me, what quarterback is it?
28:54 I'd say, not going to get into it.
28:55 But there was one and that was Bryce.
28:59 Why?
29:01 So let's say that somebody thought it was CJ.
29:06 Oh, OK, they're going to take Bryce.
29:09 We don't need to trade up.
29:10 And the Raiders last year wanted to trade their pick.
29:13 Their desire last year was to trade down, pick up an additional one or two picks and
29:21 pick Kylie Jacanty.
29:22 That was their mindset last year.
29:25 And when they couldn't find anybody willing to pay the price of what they valued, what was there,
29:30 they took Tyree.
29:33 That's how the draft works.
29:35 You know what you value your picks at.
29:38 So if somebody's willing to come in and pay you more than what the pick's value is, you
29:43 always sell the pick.
29:44 Well, 99 out of 100 times you sell the pick.
29:49 So let's get to this year.
29:50 I have heard from numerous scouts and numerous people around the league and at Alabama or
30:02 used to be at Alabama that the Raiders have been giving a ton of attention to right tackle
30:10 J.C. Latham.
30:11 Now, let me tell you about Latham.
30:13 He's six foot six.
30:15 He's 360 pounds.
30:18 He has a motor now.
30:20 A motor.
30:22 I was told that, you know, Max Crosby has a defensive lineman motor, which is seek and
30:29 find like a missile.
30:31 Offensive lineman motor is a little bit different.
30:34 Offensive lineman motor, you're not out seeking and killing.
30:38 You're you're you're holding a spot.
30:40 I was told by someone very close.
30:47 And very high up at the time in the Alabama program, that Nick Saban believes this was,
30:55 if not the best, one of the best right tackles he has ever, ever coached.
31:01 They thought he had the sustainability and the.
31:07 The what is the word I'm looking for?
31:12 The the sustainability and the the word will come to me, the sustainability and the longevity,
31:21 but that's not the word or something else of a Flozel Adams.
31:25 That reminded everybody, in fact, I know several people who were around Flozel and Latham that
31:33 both told me that.
31:36 That he was very similar.
31:38 And in that this is a pick and play right guard.
31:42 He steps in there day one like Dylan Parham at right guard and instantly compete.
31:49 I was told by another guy.
31:53 That he thought he had the bulk of Flozel with the athleticism of Jack Conklin.
32:02 Jack's a good buddy of mine.
32:05 But that is what they think of Latham, that this is a guy you go pick and play.
32:12 It's not sexy.
32:13 It's not getting.
32:15 Marvin Harrison or it's not, you know, getting.
32:20 Drake May or whomever.
32:24 But at 13, if you don't move up.
32:31 You're getting an instant starter with a potential, you know, year two All-Pro.
32:37 And so this is a guy that has been getting a ton of attention.
32:43 From the Raiders.
32:47 So I want you to just keep that out there.
32:50 This is a guy that I think.
32:52 And again, this is who the scouts are watching and all that.
32:58 And just like last year, we knew about Kaleidzha Kansing.
33:00 We knew they loved Kaleidzha.
33:01 I had Kaleidzha on this podcast.
33:03 And he's that good.
33:05 And in that Latham is a guy that the Raiders really, really like.
33:10 Now, this is why the new GM deal.
33:13 So let's say the new GM comes in and says, "No, I want a quarterback.
33:17 I'm a Caleb Williams guy."
33:19 All right.
33:20 He's the general manager.
33:25 So you got to go back.
33:27 You got to do all.
33:27 I mean, you got to change your scouting.
33:29 Then you got to go make sure, okay, does my style mesh?
33:32 Or am I going to make my head coach change to my style?
33:36 So, but Latham is a guy.
33:40 Now, I've got a, we've got a list right now of probably 60 players.
33:46 I'm guessing it could be 55.
33:49 It could be 65 or 68.
33:52 And we've been doing a couple of these reviews every day at our site,
34:02 si.com/NFL/Raiders, giving you draft previews of guys that we know.
34:08 Two of the last three years, every Raider pick in the draft, we had previewed.
34:19 So we stay very connected with it.
34:22 And I just wanted you to know that.
34:23 But Latham is a guy right now that if I was doing my mock draft and not mocking,
34:30 and you know, when I do my mock, I never mock trades.
34:34 Well, that's not true.
34:38 I never mock trades if I believe the franchise's opinion is to stay put.
34:47 I will start mocking drafts if I think there's a chance that they move up.
34:50 Having said that, I think right now, if the draft was today and Champ was running the draft,
34:59 the Raiders would stay at 13 and take Latham.
35:01 Now, that can change by who other teams take, who drafts, who trades up and moves up.
35:08 That's phenomenal when you start looking at that.
35:15 I talked to the scout yesterday who thinks there is four, potentially seven,
35:23 first-round graded offensive line.
35:26 That's a lot.
35:28 A lot.
35:30 And he said to me, again, you guys know why I'm checking my phone for texts.
35:34 He said to me, and I could see none of them.
35:45 Going in the first six picks.
35:46 And he told me, he goes, there's two of them right now
35:50 that I think in other years would have been the first-round pick.
35:56 I mean, number one overall.
35:59 Another thing that you're going to learn is that in the draft,
36:08 most NFL teams use the term dude.
36:11 And a dude is a guy that's a can't miss.
36:15 And when you are in the NFL draft and you're moving up, it better be for a dude.
36:23 Not to speculate.
36:25 It better be for a dude.
36:27 The Raiders, and I told you guys this last year, Will Anderson and Tyree Wilson
36:36 were the two guys in last year's draft that every team I spoke to had them as a dude.
36:42 Okay.
36:44 If you looked at every draft, mock draft, nobody, okay, I'm sure somebody did.
36:52 But for the most part, nobody had Tyree falling to the Raiders.
36:57 Okay.
37:00 The Raiders thought he was a dude.
37:02 They were thrilled to get him.
37:03 In fact, I reported this last year, there was an eruption of cheers and excitement
37:08 in the Raider war room when Tyree fell.
37:13 So I'm going to, and I told you all that before the draft, I will be after the combine.
37:21 When I talk to a bunch of people, I'll start telling you who the dudes are.
37:25 I will tell you this.
37:27 There are some people that think Caleb Williams is a can't miss.
37:30 And there are a lot of people that think he is not a first round talent.
37:35 There are a lot of people that think Jaden Daniels from LSU is a can't miss guy.
37:44 But there's a lot of guys that think he could be just like Caleb could be,
37:51 but there are too many risks to do it in the first round.
37:56 But yet no one thinks either one of those guys gets past number six.
38:02 One of the things that I do when I'm doing my draft analysis is
38:07 I want to look what type of organization.
38:11 Okay.
38:11 So I'm not going to name a name, but let's say an organization has a history of swinging missing.
38:16 Okay.
38:18 So your evaluation on players is not as high as maybe a team that, okay.
38:23 If somebody from the Packers, and I know some people there,
38:27 tells me we think this quarterback is a number one can't miss guy.
38:34 Okay.
38:35 My ears perk up.
38:36 Because they have a track record of success,
38:42 especially if it's somebody who's been there for any amount of time.
38:44 There are other teams that seem to always be picking quarterbacks
38:49 and never succeeding in a textbook.
38:52 If somebody from there tells me, no, not somebody new,
38:58 but somebody who was around there before says to me,
39:02 Hey, we really like this guy.
39:03 I'm not going to wait that as much as, and so I'm constantly looking at.
39:09 And so when I bring you who my dudes are, if there's a consensus, great.
39:13 If there's not, I'm always going to offer you the,
39:19 who are at the best drafting place.
39:23 Real quick.
39:24 I, Kalei Jokansi last year, I had a couple of teams that had him at a,
39:33 as a dude, I think three, maybe four, but everybody had him as a consensus.
39:39 Best defensive tackle or second best.
39:48 But everybody had him there.
39:50 And I think he proved in his rookie year,
39:52 the Will Anderson's proven to be a dude.
39:54 Tyree, injury issues, which we knew at the time and reported it,
40:00 held him back a little bit, but he was coming on at the end.
40:03 And I think he's going to have a monster sophomore campaign.
40:05 So that is the draft information about JC Latham.
40:11 I thought that you would really, really want and wanted to present that to you.
40:17 So yeah, there you go.
40:18 That's today's podcast.
40:19 Again, at the time of this taping, no decisions have been made between Champ and with Yods.
40:26 I'm expecting it.
40:28 I expected it last week.
40:31 I mean, you interviewed both guys last week.
40:34 Come on, poop or get off the pot.
40:39 But which I expected at any moment.
40:45 And then I wanted to share the draft information.
40:47 Got a lot more stuff coming tomorrow, too.
40:49 But I got to start answering these phone calls.
40:51 And I got to start doing my job, getting a bunch of information.
40:56 So thank you, everybody.
40:57 Remember, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation, Las Vegas Raiders
41:01 Insider Podcast back here in Vegas.
41:03 Make sure additionally, follow me on Instagram,
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