Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast on the NFL Combine, Josh Jacobs, Jack Jones, Russell Wilson and More
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fann Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 Great to have you here at the Combine in Indianapolis.
00:12 All week we're going to have tons of coverage and I'm going to talk about the Combine in
00:16 a minute, but I've got five subjects I want to talk to you about today and then we're
00:22 going to go hit the ground and begin covering the Combine.
00:24 First I want to talk to you about Jack Jones.
00:27 He put a tweet out yesterday and I retweeted it, you can go look on my ex, formerly known
00:33 as Twitter account and find it, it's @HondoCarpenter.
00:37 Jack Jones talked about people trying to get him to go out and recruit free agents.
00:43 He said, "I believe in the guys in this room, I'm not going to go recruiting because I believe
00:50 in them."
00:51 Essentially what he's saying is, "Why would I go recruit guys to replace people in this
00:56 locker room who I believe in?"
01:00 I thought that was fascinating.
01:03 I thought that showed you a lot about Jack Jones.
01:06 He has had a lot of people ding him and his reputation.
01:12 I've told you I like him.
01:13 I think it's a great environment for him to be with the Raiders, to be with Antonio Pierce.
01:18 I liked what he said, "I believe in the guys in this locker room.
01:23 I'm not going to go out recruiting and trying to get guys to replace them because I believe
01:27 in the guys that are here."
01:30 It led to something.
01:31 I've been telling you all along the esprit de corps in that locker room.
01:37 Those players believe in each other.
01:39 They're united.
01:40 This is the most united I have seen the Raiders in the five years that I've covered them.
01:47 I just thought it was fascinating.
01:50 I wanted to throw that out there to you.
01:52 I thought it was very good.
01:56 I thought it was extremely powerful that Jack said that.
02:01 I think it tells you a lot about the locker room.
02:05 I'm not a fan.
02:07 Most of you are.
02:09 I think all of us can think of areas where the team could upgrade and add some players.
02:15 What he's literally saying is, "I believe in my guys.
02:19 I'm sticking with my guys.
02:22 I'm not going to be out recruiting."
02:24 It's a great answer.
02:25 It's a great answer for his teammates.
02:29 I think it shows you a lot about Jack Jones' character.
02:32 I want to get to you about Josh Jacobs and the Raiders are not going to use the franchise
02:37 tag which would be about $14 million for them.
02:42 That is not a surprise.
02:44 I've been telling you that they would not franchise him.
02:48 I've also been telling you at this point I expect a deal to get done.
02:53 Both parties have harmony of interest.
02:56 Both parties would like to remain together.
03:01 I think that they understand exactly where they're at, exactly the position that they
03:09 find themselves in.
03:13 I have no problem with that.
03:15 If I had to guess right now, unless one part, I don't think the Raiders are going to be
03:21 stingy at all.
03:24 If I was reading it right and talking to people part of the Raiders, it's just going to be
03:30 a matter of they're not going to be stingy, but what's Josh want?
03:34 I believe Josh wants to be a Raider.
03:37 I'm saying it.
03:38 I've said it all along.
03:40 I expect a deal to get done, but there'll be no franchise tag.
03:43 Now, Damon Arnett, I have told you multiple times this was a terrible draft pick by the
03:50 Raiders that everyone who knew him pre-college and college were stunned when the Raiders
04:01 picked him.
04:03 I got multiple texts from NFL executives, and this is why the Raiders are the Raiders.
04:10 I told you already on previous podcasts, I remember saying to Mike and to John, "What
04:16 were you guys thinking?
04:17 Cover this guy in the Big Ten."
04:20 There's more that was known about him that hasn't even come out yet.
04:26 I'm not saying it will, but I mean, stuff that isn't even out there yet.
04:31 Sorry, it's early.
04:35 Now, he's got gun and meth charges.
04:44 It just goes to show you the importance of doing your research, the importance of the
04:50 Raider scouting system before Dave Ziegler and Champ Kelly got here was old and dilapidated
04:57 and was mocked around the NFL.
05:01 They did what they wanted, but Ziegler put Champ Kelly in charge of restructuring it.
05:07 Now the Raiders are an envy of the league, and this kind of stuff can't happen.
05:17 With Telesco and Kelly, it's not going to.
05:21 It doesn't mean you may not miss on a guy, but they didn't miss on Damon Arnett.
05:28 They knew.
05:30 They just thought they were the smartest people in the room.
05:34 It's an indictment on John.
05:39 I was told specifically it wasn't Mayock.
05:42 I believe that.
05:45 It was John.
05:49 When you have a coach who goes by their gut, sometimes they're going to live by it, some
05:54 days they're going to die by it.
05:57 Terrible draft pick.
05:59 Far worse than Jim Marcus Russell.
06:01 Far worse.
06:04 I have said this many times.
06:06 The Damon Arnett first round pick was the worst draft pick ever in the NFL because everybody
06:12 knew this was out there, and the Raiders didn't care.
06:18 Now I want to talk about Russell Wilson.
06:21 I want to talk about the importance of reading.
06:25 We live in a hot take culture, hot take culture, where everybody wants to have the hot take
06:34 first.
06:36 So Ezekiel Trezevant writes an article about the Raiders should consider signing Russell
06:40 Wilson.
06:43 He's on my staff.
06:44 I retweeted it.
06:45 I do that with all my staff.
06:46 Man, I started getting blown up, which is perfectly fine.
06:50 I can handle it.
06:52 But people, you're so wrong.
06:54 This is dumb.
06:55 What do you think?
06:56 Well, first of all, you didn't read the article or you would have seen I didn't write it.
07:00 And number two, he laid out a lot of really good points.
07:04 Russell Wilson was playing very well for the Broncos, and now you can potentially go get
07:09 him for a league minimum?
07:12 Listen, I get it if somebody says, "I don't want Russell Wilson."
07:17 In fact, I agree with that.
07:20 I don't think you want Russell Wilson on the Raiders.
07:27 And it didn't change the fact he made a very germane argument.
07:32 And it really shows us about where we are as a culture now, that people can't talk and
07:38 have intellectual talks and discussion and bring up viable germane points.
07:45 Everyone's got to be a hot take artist.
07:49 And I promise I'm not mad about it.
07:54 I just think a lot of you made yourself look stupid.
08:00 And there's a lot of people that thought the Raiders were stupid for signing Jim Plunkett.
08:07 There's been a lot of guys that have come to the Raiders that other teams thought were
08:10 washed up.
08:12 And people complained about it, looked stupid.
08:16 Be somebody who at least reads something before you comment on it.
08:22 The article wasn't Raiders should sign Russell Wilson, it said they should consider to go
08:30 get a Russell Wilson and then pick a quarterback in the draft along with Aiden O'Connell, all
08:35 the money that they would save on a team that's not rebuilding.
08:42 If I was Tom Telesco or Antonio Pierce, would I sign Russell Wilson?
08:46 No, but that doesn't change.
08:48 Zeke made some great points.
08:51 Be someone who can know what you believe and not be intimidated or feel like you got to
08:57 attack somebody who disagrees with you.
09:02 Person strong person of faith.
09:06 My nephew Chase recently doing a report in his school and they had to interview several
09:14 people.
09:15 One of them was a strong person of faith, an adult of faith.
09:19 And he said to me, read questions for his paper.
09:26 Does science and faith, are they opposite enemies?
09:31 No.
09:33 Number two, can you be a strong person of faith and embrace science?
09:37 Yes.
09:38 Number three, why is it that faith and science haven't gotten along?
09:42 And I said, quote, because both parties have been guilty of being intellectually dishonest,
09:49 unquote.
09:50 Same way, football, everything in our life.
09:55 Man, we got people on both ends of the political spectrum that say, if you don't agree with
10:01 me, you hate me.
10:02 How stupid is that?
10:06 If the Raiders are going to be good, then they've got to look under every rock, which
10:11 is what they're doing.
10:14 And to just know lots of people read it and said that for me, I have no issue with you.
10:19 You're not the person I'm talking to.
10:21 But when you start ripping it and you never read it, you don't look smart and you make
10:27 Raider Nation look stupid and you make yourself look stupid.
10:34 You should be able to have confidence about improving a team.
10:38 How many people read me or say Patrick Graham was a great hire?
10:43 How many read me when I did it, when I talked about Robert Spillane was a steal last year?
10:48 How many people read me when I said Greg Van Roden was a good signing?
10:55 I said, not a Hall of Famer, end of his career, but a good signing.
11:02 There's a lot.
11:05 Good teams understand roles.
11:09 We need role guides.
11:11 And again, I wouldn't bring Russell here, but that's not the point.
11:20 The point is be intellectually honest enough that you can have serious conversations, but
11:30 at least read what people said.
11:34 Pay attention to that.
11:36 That's important.
11:39 We're not going to shy from subjects that we cover because it may trigger some of you
11:45 to grow up.
11:49 We're going to cover every issue.
11:52 And sometimes I'm going to disagree with some of my staff, but I still want them to write
11:57 it, especially when it's intellectually sound like Zeke's article was.
12:04 And he didn't even say do it.
12:05 He said, you should consider it.
12:08 I think he's right.
12:09 I think you got to consider it.
12:10 I wouldn't do it, but I would consider it.
12:14 And now that we're coming into free agent season and we're coming into draft and OTAs
12:21 and mini camps, keep your mind open.
12:23 Quote that lady from the man from Snowy River, open your minds, have another beer.
12:31 But be able to have intellectual discussions.
12:36 I don't feel like you got to attack people.
12:41 You know, and someone said, are you mad?
12:43 No, I'm not mad at me.
12:47 You mad about that part of our culture?
12:49 It's ridiculous.
12:52 It's just stupid.
12:54 Oh, you don't agree with me.
12:55 You hate me.
12:57 You hear me say all the time, I don't care if you disagree with me on social media.
13:00 I'm not God.
13:01 I'm not God.
13:02 But you should be able to have an intellectual discussion and look at things, parse it, look
13:11 at it from every angle.
13:13 Remember the people who called Colton Miller a lost draft pick, failed draft pick?
13:21 Some of you don't want people to remember.
13:27 And people that said Patrick Graham sucked.
13:31 Just saying.
13:37 Look at things, be analytical, then make an opinion.
13:42 Last thing I want to talk about the combine.
13:44 We're going to be here all week.
13:46 Tons of coverage, tons of videos.
13:49 We're going to be talking with Tom Telesco a couple of times, Antonio Pierce, but we're
13:52 going to talk to all the quarterbacks.
13:55 We're going to talk to a bunch of the big draft picks.
13:58 And it's important to me that you know a couple things.
14:03 There are going to be things that I will learn that I'm not going to share with you.
14:10 I will never intentionally do anything to hurt the Raiders.
14:18 And if I'm able to learn a secret that should not be told, I'm not going to repeat that.
14:24 I'm not going to get on your whole, I know something you don't, but I'm not going to
14:29 be able to share everything because we're going to, I'm going to learn a lot, but I'm
14:33 going to be able to share a ton with you because it's, if it's stuff that I know other teams
14:39 already have, just like last year, I knew that Dave Ziegler wanted CJ Stroud.
14:47 I knew that Josh McDaniels wanted Bryce Young, but they weren't going to go to one to get
14:52 them.
14:54 I knew that.
14:55 So I didn't use any names.
14:57 Why?
14:58 Wasn't trying to hurt the Raiders at all.
15:05 So no need to get it out there.
15:08 If other teams don't know, what if somebody would have dropped the seven?
15:12 Were they picked?
15:14 But there's going to be a lot of great information for you.
15:18 A lot going on in the interviews, a lot going on in the workouts that you'll get to watch
15:22 on NFL Network.
15:23 And we're going to have tons of videos and articles for you joined by, by Aiden Champion.
15:31 Very excited to have him here for his first combine.
15:35 Carter Landis, his first combine and Braden Reedy, his first combine with us.
15:41 A lot of great stuff going on.
15:43 And I look forward to watching it with you, reporting on it.
15:47 It's a lot happening.
15:49 We'll have videos later today, so be watching for all the videos, be paying attention.
15:54 Going to have a ton of information coming your way.
15:58 And we're excited to be part of this coverage of the 2024 NFL combine for you.
16:04 Remember, follow me on Twitter @HondoCarpenter.
16:07 Follow me on X formerly known as, yeah, X formerly known as Twitter @HondoCarpenter
16:13 and on IG @HondoSR.
16:16 From all of us here at Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
16:20 we'll see you all here on all the videos and back with another podcast tomorrow.