Our latest Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast episode talks about the State of the Silver and Black heading into the NFL Draft and plenty more.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is your old pal Uncle Hondo, the Las Vegas Raiders beat writer for Sports
00:07 Illustrated and the host of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, joined by this guy
00:13 who looks like he's standing over like Gargamel over a pot of boiling water, Matt Holadek.
00:20 He's at his parents today, so give him a break.
00:23 But the lighting is not the best, but he's still the old Matt.
00:25 Now we could have put the light above his head on, but then the glare of that bald head
00:33 would make everybody think we were seeing an eclipse again, Matt.
00:38 It would.
00:39 And at least this way, it looks a little bit like I'm summoning, you know, some spirits
00:43 or something.
00:44 But trust me, it is better than if I had the overhead light on.
00:48 So next week we should be back from my kitchen.
00:52 So that'll be a little back to status quo.
00:56 So Matt, I'm sure you saw Thursday's podcast with Michael France, but I wanted to talk
01:04 to you about it.
01:06 We broke down all 32 teams.
01:11 How many first round picks they've had in the last 10 years, how many top 10.
01:17 And the thing that stood out was the bottom 11 teams, meaning they had only one or zero
01:24 top 10 picks, all contenders.
01:29 And we really talked about the science of the NFL draft and how you cannot take risks
01:38 in the first round and consistently the best teams.
01:42 I'll just read these teams to you.
01:45 Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, New Orleans, Miami, Houston, Baltimore, the Rams, New England,
01:53 Seattle and Philly.
01:57 They don't take risks.
01:59 They don't go out and do those things that put their franchise, they win their first
02:05 rounders.
02:06 Avoid shiny objects that could hit for the girl next door.
02:12 You know, this is what you're going to get and your thoughts on that.
02:17 And I mean, I think it put it right into perspective.
02:20 Yeah, I think a lot of it is those teams are a lot of them have found their quarterbacks,
02:26 which which always helps.
02:28 But I think a lot of the reasons why, you know, those teams you mentioned in that time
02:33 frame, some of them may have had, you know, one top 10 pick or two or something like that.
02:39 But, you know, they hit on.
02:42 Them when they had them, for example, you know, the Texans who had some winning seasons,
02:47 but then were picking in the top 10 and then got to Sean Watson and then they were good
02:51 for a few years and then, you know, everything falls apart with him.
02:54 They have a couple of down seasons, but they hit on the number two pick with CJ Stroud
03:00 and now they're back up to be one of the better teams in the AFC.
03:03 So you have to hit on quarterbacks if you're going to take him early.
03:06 And I think what those other those teams also have is they they're built well.
03:12 Through the lines, for the most part, you know, the Ravens are always strong up front
03:17 running the football.
03:19 The Eagles forever have been built well on the offensive and defensive lines.
03:24 You know, some I'm trying to get some other teams named Seattle always built well, you
03:29 know, up front and consistent.
03:31 So the teams there, it's not a surprise that the teams that are always contending seem
03:37 to even with the parity in the NFL, there is a definite pattern to those teams being
03:44 up there.
03:45 And then you have your teams who are constantly picking, you know, in the top 10.
03:51 And I'm just thinking off the top of my head.
03:54 You have you have the list in front of you.
03:56 I'm sure I'll give it to Jacksonville.
03:59 So listen, the Giants, the Jets, the Giants and the Jets have each had 12 first round
04:05 picks in the last 10 years.
04:08 And eight top 10s each.
04:11 And guess what?
04:12 To quote the guy Rob Schneider from the from the waterboy, you still suck.
04:19 They can't beat Jacksonville.
04:22 Ten top 10s, 12 first rounders, Chicago, six top 10s, eight first rounders, Atlanta, five
04:31 top 10, 10 first rounders, Arizona, five top 10s, 10 first rounders, Carolina, five top
04:38 10s, nine first rounders, Cleveland, five first rounder, I mean, five top 10s, nine
04:43 first rounders.
04:44 The only two teams that have had that are in that group are ones that have made changes
04:50 and are growing that San Francisco with five and nine and Detroit with five and 10.
04:55 Both have gotten new management within that 10 year period and are making an ascension.
04:59 All right.
05:00 I want to go to a different subject.
05:01 Same subject, but a different question.
05:05 I had an NFL executive tell me that you look at.
05:13 And I thought this was brilliant.
05:15 When you look at players, the best ability is availability.
05:19 But he says, when you look at coaches, management and ownership, the best ability is stability.
05:25 And when you look, it looks like Detroit finally has some stability, San Francisco with John
05:29 Lynch and, you know, of course their coach to have stability.
05:36 Raiders, no stability.
05:39 They've been all over the place for years.
05:43 Nothing is stable.
05:44 I think that this report, and I really give a lot of credit to our Michael France, really
05:49 just demonstrated a lot about how valuable the first round pick is and stability.
05:58 Without a doubt, you need your front office and coaching staff, especially from, you know,
06:05 GM to be competent.
06:08 And you need that stability to be there for multiple years, because if you're constantly
06:13 changing head coaches and you're changing general managers, it becomes a mess.
06:20 I mean, that's what has happened in New York the last decade.
06:26 The Jets are constantly, they've had multiple general managers, but they're constantly changing
06:31 head coaches.
06:32 The Giants, since Tom Copeland got let go, constantly changing head coaches.
06:38 So if you can't hit on those important positions, it almost doesn't matter what your, who your
06:46 draft picks are, because your philosophy or your vision is constantly changing because
06:52 you don't have the same people in lockstep saying, all right, this is what we need for
06:58 our roster.
06:59 This is how we want to build.
07:01 That's the most important thing in the NFL in terms of building a roster.
07:05 Quarterback play is always going to reign supreme.
07:07 It's the quickest way to raise your ceiling and be among the elite teams.
07:12 But if you have a well-run, sound organization, your floor is going to be pretty high and
07:20 you're not going to bottom out.
07:22 You'll always be in the mix and be a solid franchise.
07:24 I mean, look at the Raiders.
07:27 So I've covered them five years.
07:30 Okay.
07:31 So in that five years, they've had four coaches, three general managers, and all of them do
07:39 things differently.
07:43 So you got seven different people who all were in the mix, out of the mix.
07:47 I mean, and then you wonder why it's, I mean, it was amazing that Antonio Pierce could get
07:53 out of them what he got out of them last year.
07:55 They just got to stay the course, get some stability.
08:00 I mean, this pulling the trigger every couple of years.
08:04 Well, all right.
08:06 No.
08:07 Pick a vision, stick with the vision and see where it goes.
08:10 It's just, and then the bad drafting has killed the Raiders.
08:14 And you can see by this report how important it is, can't you?
08:18 Without a doubt.
08:19 It's tempting to make the changes because in the NFL, in the modern NFL, it's not, if
08:29 you hit on a couple of things and you do things right, it is pretty easy to flip the script
08:34 and rebuild quickly.
08:38 But if you don't do things right, or you're constantly searching for that quick rebuild,
08:45 you know, you get, that's where you get in these cycles of instability and cycles of
08:49 change.
08:50 It's like with the Texans, when they traded for Stephon Diggs, I saw a tweet from, I think
08:56 it was Adam Rank, but I'm not sure exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was him saying, "People
09:03 will be trying to copy the Texans model for years."
09:07 And I knew what he was trying to say, but I also, a lot of people responded, "Well,
09:11 yeah, it's easy.
09:12 Just land on a generational quarterback at number two after the team in front of you
09:17 in the draft passed on that guy and picked a different quarterback and, you know, have
09:22 all these other things work out."
09:24 Like there is luck involved as well.
09:26 You know, it's not just about, you know, everything Fong, everything you do, there's
09:33 luck with what other teams do, but you know, you have to have that stability like you said.
09:40 Next week when you come on, Matt, you're going to give us the entire seven round Las Vegas
09:47 Raiders mock draft, what you would do.
09:51 Okay.
09:52 We'll go through all of that and discuss it next week.
09:56 But so you can do trades, you can do whatever you want, but that's going to be you next
10:00 week.
10:01 But the thing that sticks out to me, Matt, is when you look at the Raiders, this is a
10:07 franchise best stadium in the NFL, best headquarters with workout facilities in the NFL.
10:13 It's not even close.
10:14 A state with no state income taxes helps you with getting, I mean, look at what it did
10:19 with Christian Wilkins.
10:21 When you look straight at real money, he makes more than Chris Jones, even though Chris Jones
10:26 makes more because he's in Nevada with no state income tax.
10:31 You look at, they finally got a coach, Antonio Pierce.
10:34 Everybody's behind him.
10:35 Not everybody.
10:36 There are some who are just never going to be behind anybody.
10:39 They bring in Tom Telesco, just stick with stability.
10:43 All right.
10:44 I want to turn to something Jared Goff said, and it's an issue that I have with the media
10:51 as well.
10:52 He's the quarterback of the Lions.
10:55 He used to be the quarterback of the Rams, took them to a Super Bowl.
11:00 And he said that he thought the Detroit media was just way too negative.
11:04 Now I believe this is media in general.
11:08 Our job is not to be cheerleaders, but you and I both know Matt, bad news gets more clicks.
11:17 It just is.
11:18 It's just the reality.
11:20 I remember when I got into this business, I was told by someone who I very respect that
11:26 said, "Carpenter, if you're going to make it, you know a lot of people, you're personable,
11:33 you get good information, but you're going to have to be more negative because people
11:38 aren't looking for that right down the middle of the road stuff.
11:41 And they don't want, and I'm not a cheerleader."
11:43 He goes, "You're not a cheerleader, but they're not looking for the objectivity you offer."
11:48 And I thought, man, are you kidding me?
11:52 I think media in general is just so negative.
11:57 Sports world and everywhere else, our job's not to be writing for the click.
12:03 Our job's to be providing the information and then letting people chew.
12:08 And then with me, at least it happened over many, many decades.
12:12 I guess I've got an audience that trusts me.
12:14 Okay, I may not be the clickbait guy, but they trust me.
12:18 I can't argue with what Jared said.
12:21 Can you?
12:22 I think about this often.
12:25 I think one of the issues that you get, sometimes it also could be heightened depending on where
12:35 you are and the type of franchise you're covering.
12:39 For instance, if you're covering the Lions, I can see why some media might be a little
12:51 more cynical or a little bit more negative with regards to the Lions, even though they're
12:57 obviously making great progress and look like they're establishing themselves as a consistently
13:03 good NFL team, finally.
13:05 They have had decades of futility.
13:07 So I feel like the default there is negativity.
13:10 When is the other shoe going to drop?
13:14 I think you see it in New York.
13:18 New York has a mix of franchises that are traditionally successful, like the Yankees,
13:26 ones that are traditionally not successful, like the Mets and the Jets.
13:29 And then you have the Giants who have had high highs and really low lows, everything
13:34 in between.
13:36 So there's a mix.
13:38 I think you see with New York City, if the Yankees slump a little bit, people are like,
13:46 "Ah, well, they'll get it together."
13:48 But if the Mets get off to a bad start, all the jokes come out, or the Jets or things
13:53 like that.
13:55 I also think another thing that plays into this is social media.
14:03 And I catch this way with myself, whether it's as a media member, as a fan, as somebody
14:08 who's observing just two teams playing in a game that I have no connection to.
14:15 It's easier on Twitter, X, whatever you're calling it, to be cynical and sarcastic because
14:22 it's a quick hitting platform.
14:24 And it almost entices you and lures you into being sarcastic and being snarky.
14:34 So I think that also plays a role into it.
14:37 But the thing that you mentioned that's fascinating is this.
14:41 Fans don't want media members that are constantly crapping on their team or taking pot shots
14:52 or doing this and doing that.
14:54 They get mad at media.
14:55 I've seen them fight back on media members that do that or that they perceive that do
14:59 that on social media.
15:03 But the media members that try to play things straight and narrow down the middle or as
15:10 objective as possible, a lot of fans don't want that either because social media, there's
15:17 a lot of fan negativity.
15:19 And it isn't even just for the teams that are traditionally bad.
15:23 I mean, you see, again, fans on social media are almost conditioned to expect the worst
15:30 or they latch on to the worst things.
15:34 So they get mad when the writers, they get mad if the writers are too negative or overly
15:39 negative, but they get mad at the writers that try to be a little bit more objective
15:44 or try to maybe provide a little bit of hope, not false hope, but just like, hey, you know,
15:49 don't be so cynical or so, you know, just fatalistic.
15:54 I think there's a lot of factors at play.
15:55 I do.
15:56 I think we could have an entire podcast.
15:57 We could probably have a series on this, but yeah, I definitely see the negativity I get
16:03 if the Raiders are losing.
16:06 And I'll say, just relax.
16:07 I think they're going to come back and win this one.
16:10 It's a full game.
16:11 Let the game play out.
16:12 Oh, you're in it.
16:14 OK, OK.
16:15 I mean, the game threads on message boards are just insanity.
16:20 And I've seen and I'm telling you, I've seen them look at the game threads for college
16:25 sports, not just for, you know, regular run of the mill programs.
16:31 I'm talking about the game threads for Alabama football, for Duke basketball, for the premier
16:37 brands that have won a ton and win every year.
16:41 Teams are going apoplectic because their team's losing at the first media timeout.
16:45 And it's like you got to calm down a little bit.
16:48 And I think that's sort of I don't know how you how you change that.
16:51 All right.
16:52 So I wanted to ask you, I met a guy the other day in the airport.
16:58 Who was in his late 60s.
17:02 And I'm not going to name him because I don't want to get him any hate on social media.
17:05 Told me how much he enjoyed watching the podcast every day and reading the articles.
17:10 And I said to him, hey, what's your social media?
17:12 I'll follow you.
17:13 He goes, I got rid of it.
17:15 He goes, my wife literally said to me, babe, if you're going to stay on social media.
17:23 It changes you.
17:25 And I don't want you to be a Raider fan anymore because it just makes you angry.
17:28 It makes you mad.
17:31 And she goes, news makes you angry and mad.
17:35 That isn't from your political.
17:36 And he said he got rid of social media.
17:38 He goes, I turn on YouTube.
17:40 I watch you.
17:41 I read your articles.
17:43 I watch the game because but I got rid of social media goes and man, my life is so much
17:48 better.
17:49 It is a phenomenon that at no time in American history have we been more connected than we
17:57 are now.
17:58 But at no time in American history, have we communicated less?
18:04 I think that I thought about this today because there was a story out here about the wife
18:13 of Francisco Lindor from the New York Mets getting hate messages and death threats because
18:18 her husband got a really slow start to the season.
18:22 There was also an article I read in The Athletic about people verbally abusing walk ons on
18:30 Twitter and Instagram because, you know, they were in at the end of a game.
18:36 And the example with Purdue, Purdue was a twenty seven point favorite against Grambling
18:42 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
18:44 And they were up twenty five and a walk on on Purdue, living the dream in playing in
18:50 a tournament game, makes it three in the final minute.
18:52 They win by twenty eight.
18:54 And this kid's all happy, excited, celebrating with teammates.
18:57 And he gets into the locker room, checks his phone, and there's people sending these awful
19:01 messages because they had Grambling plus twenty seven and they lost their parlay.
19:07 And I think that gambling adds to some of that that negative feedback, too.
19:12 But just in looking at social media.
19:16 I almost don't know if human beings have evolved or are capable of handling social media.
19:27 I have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
19:30 I love Instagram.
19:32 I think that, you know, I think there's a definite fun side of it.
19:36 You get to see what your friends are doing, what you're doing, what their kids are doing,
19:40 family trips, all different types of things.
19:43 Twitter, if there was no that's how we exist, like we get so much information from Twitter,
19:49 so much of our coverage and what we blog and write about this fun is steered off of news
19:54 that breaks on Twitter or stories on Twitter.
19:58 But there's so much negativity there and there's so much toxicity.
20:02 And I think what it is contributes to it is the immediacy of it.
20:07 If you're watching a game.
20:10 And you know, if you're watching a game 40 years ago and your team was playing.
20:15 And you were getting angry and annoyed and whatever, you had to either complain to, you
20:22 know, your spouse or your kids or people you were with, or you had a call on a house phone
20:27 landline call your buddy or your your siblings or whoever and complain.
20:34 Now you could just fire off nasty, snarky things on Twitter in a moment.
20:40 And it's immediacy and it's the your height.
20:43 Emotions are heightened and it's just not a good mix.
20:46 And I don't I think the toothpaste is way out of the tube.
20:49 There's no going back.
20:51 But I do think it's a major issue.
20:54 You know that I'm a large human.
20:57 Very tall.
20:58 255 pounds.
20:59 And I always laugh when some people put their comments on Twitter.
21:05 And I think I wonder if they would bring a stepladder and say that to my face.
21:08 No, there's a lot of stuff.
21:10 The anonymity factor for some people because they have anonymous.
21:15 It's like beer goggles.
21:17 Yes.
21:18 I call it social.
21:20 Yeah, I probably shouldn't call it what I call it.
21:23 Even the podcast.
21:24 But let's say some social media goggles.
21:27 Yeah.
21:28 Just that.
21:29 Yeah.
21:30 You know, you get you get you get Twitter muscles.
21:31 Basically, you think, oh.
21:35 Because you feel like there's no consequences, especially if it's if you're going anonymously.
21:41 But even if you have your real identity.
21:45 There's no real.
21:46 You could say it because you're not going up to the player or coach's face and saying
21:50 it to them.
21:51 You got to tell you, though, I know of teams that take negative comments that fans send
22:01 to their team.
22:04 And use them in recruiting and use them in free agency and say, you want to go there?
22:10 Look at how they treat their players.
22:12 It's fascinating to me.
22:14 And again, I understand where Jarev Goff was coming in.
22:17 All right.
22:18 Changes in the NFL uniform policy.
22:19 What do you think of that?
22:21 I love it.
22:22 I mean, the NFL finally expanded a couple of years ago to let teams have a second helmet.
22:27 For the longest time, they only wanted the one shell for safety reasons.
22:33 Now then they they they did whatever research or development that do.
22:38 And now teams can have a second shell.
22:40 So you started to see the prevalence of throwback unis or alternates.
22:47 And now teams are allowed to have a third helmet during the season.
22:51 So with that, you're going to get more teams jumping into the throwback game because theoretically
22:57 you could have, you know, your regular helmet and two throwbacks or your regular helmet
23:04 and an alternate in the throwback.
23:06 So I think you're going to see some teams do some really creative stuff.
23:10 And I'm a big uniform and helmet guy.
23:15 I think it's always fun.
23:17 And I know.
23:18 Let me let me jump in for a minute.
23:21 OK.
23:22 I love the New England Patriot, old Patriots, a guy in the three point stance.
23:26 I love the Raider helmet.
23:29 I think the Raider helmet is cool.
23:31 I don't like the Cowboys, but their helmet is their helmet.
23:35 There are some teams.
23:38 I don't want to see a mess with their helmet.
23:41 Like I don't want to see another, although I've seen a couple that I thought were pretty
23:44 cool.
23:45 Keep the Raider helmet.
23:46 Where's where the Raider?
23:47 You know what I mean?
23:48 Cowboys, I get that.
23:51 The Pittsburgh Steelmen.
23:53 I get that.
23:55 But man.
23:57 I like it.
23:58 But there are some teams.
23:59 It's just like Penn State uniforms go back to what they were.
24:05 You know, just Alabama uniforms, the number on the side.
24:09 I like it.
24:10 I just there are some uniforms to me that are just iconic and you want to stick with
24:16 them being iconic.
24:17 It's like the Michigan State.
24:18 I don't want the S on there.
24:20 There's a ton of S's.
24:21 I want the Spartan.
24:23 I mean, I just to me, there are certain things that are iconic.
24:29 You don't mess with those.
24:31 I think that in college you get that a lot.
24:34 You mentioned Penn State and Alabama.
24:35 I think, you know, you know, Texas, you want you want to keep the Longhorn, just Michigan,
24:41 the winged helmet, Notre Dame, the classic gold, even though they have experimented with
24:46 alternate helmets now.
24:47 Oh, you.
24:48 Oh, you.
24:49 Yeah.
24:50 I mean, no, there's a lot of Gators.
24:52 Yep.
24:53 There's a lot of teams that I can think of a couple more.
24:55 How about the USC Trojans?
24:57 That is a classic helmet.
25:00 Ohio State with the Michigan.
25:03 Yep.
25:04 I said we all hate Michigan as much as we all hate Michigan.
25:09 I.
25:10 No, the winged helmet is classic, and for those that don't know, I'm a Spartan, that's
25:15 why that's a big deal.
25:16 The the the winged helmet is classic and it's I think you see that tradition in the NFL.
25:24 Some of the teams I could think of that I don't really don't want to see too much alterations
25:29 with the helmet would be the Raiders, would be the Cowboys, would be the Packers, the
25:34 Chiefs, Steelman Steel.
25:36 Yep.
25:37 There are teams like that.
25:41 But I think that for me, you know.
25:45 I hope the Patriots I would love to see the Patriots do, you know, whatever their their
25:50 jersey is now.
25:51 I mean, their uniform helmet now.
25:54 I would love to see them have the Pat Patriot for a game or two with the throwbacks.
25:59 Keep it for all 17.
26:01 They're not going to do that.
26:03 Listen, my wife is a classic.
26:05 I don't want to change her.
26:06 I like everything about her.
26:07 Don't change anything.
26:09 They're not going to do that with my helmets.
26:12 If I like the helmet, don't change the helmet.
26:15 Well, to me, there's there are some throwback helmets and uniform combos that I wish would
26:20 teams would go to full time.
26:21 I wish the Eagles would do the Kelly Green full time at home.
26:25 I wish the Giants would go to their color rush and their their throwback look.
26:31 As their permanent ones.
26:32 Same thing with the Jets, the Patriots, the Pat Patriot.
26:36 I mean, I wish teams would go back to that.
26:40 But I'm tired of turning the NFL and football into a fashion show.
26:45 I know why they do it.
26:47 It's you guys use the term Nike vacation.
26:49 It's so they can sell more merch.
26:51 I get that.
26:52 I'm fine.
26:53 I'm a businessman, but I like it.
26:55 Just keep it the way it is.
26:56 All right.
26:57 Now, next week, you're going to give your complete Raiders seven round mock draft.
26:59 He is the great Matt Hladik.
27:00 Matt, share your social media with him.
27:02 Sure.
27:03 You can find me on at Matt Hladik 919 on X or Twitter, whatever you call it, at M A T
27:09 T H L A D I K 919.
27:13 And I'm always down to talk some ball over there.
27:15 And you can also get my thoughts on pretty much anything in the sports world, because
27:18 I use it just to, you know, just throw out there, you know, what's going on.
27:22 All right.
27:23 Don't forget.
27:24 Find me on IG at Hondo S R and X formerly known as Twitter at Hondo Carpenter and go
27:28 to SI dot com forward slash NFL forward slash Raiders.