Raiders name Cousins QB 1; plus other notable storylines

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. The NFL season is finally here and Lockdown NFL is covering every second of it. You can find us breaking down all the action on Amazon Music every single day with bold takes and real analysis that matters. Opening day storylines, roster moves. If it's happening with your team, we're on it. No waiting, no fluff, subscribe on Amazon Music and never miss a snap. Podcast Network, your team every day.

1:24On Twitter, at RE Producers, you can hit me up as well. At your boy, Q254. And if you want to be a part of the show, we've got the Lockdown Rater Podcast Westman line for you. 707-654-4693, your calls and texts. We'll close out the show as it normally does. Again, 707-654-4693. Lot of really good feedback about a lot of good subjects that we have here on the show. Segment number two, multiple storylines to follow when it comes to this team. I know there's one big, huge storyline, which is Fernando Mendoza and when he's going to play, but there's so many different storylines that you could talk about when it comes to the Raiders. We'll break down a handful of them coming up as segment number two. Segment number one, news and notes of the day, including QB1 for the Raiders, verse Miami. We'll get into that after I tell you about the title sponsor of the show, which is Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use promo code Lockdown. It's all one word for $20 off your first purchase. So off top. It was funny, man, on Wednesday, we're at the Raider facility for practice. And now that it's in regular season mode, we don't get the whole practice like we did

2:25in training camp. Training camp was awesome. We're out there for the whole two hours that we go in and we get to talk to coach, we talk to players, or they have the podium outside, whatever the case may be. Regular season, not so much. Regular season, we get in there, we get about 15 minutes stretching individuals, and then see you. You guys are out of there. So on Wednesday, we're sitting there and we're going through. We have enough time. We have the roster. I don't have it with me right here, but we grab the roster and we're going through and we're checking off every player that's there. Boom, boom, boom, boom, you know, cross them off. So we know, accurately, who's there practicing and who's not. So we get down to number eight, no sign of number eight. I see number 15, right? I see number 12. I don't see number eight. Obviously number eight is Kurt Cousins. So we see no Kurt Cousins. So we start talking to each other. Hey, any word on why Kurt Cousins isn't out here? Did you hear anything about Kurt Cousins? What's going on? How come he's not participating? Do you see him to the side? There's a swimming pool behind where we're at, where we're standing watching. I'm trying to peek into the swimming pool, see if he's there, you know, doing some work

3:26to the side as he dente door and junior in the pool. And I say, nope, don't see any Kurt Cousins. So now, it's like, all right, what's going on? Did he get hurt? We know he's a little bit older. You know, there's videos out there of him doing some running during drills. And it's like, oh, well, he was going a little slow in that video. You know, you think anything happened? It's Fernando Mendozaelson, QB1. What's going on? So it's so funny. We're in there literally 15 minutes and we have kind of cooked up in our minds, all these different storylines. Next thing you know, we are told that we have to leave. We're going back to the media room and out from the indoor comes Kurt Cousins. But he's got a baseball hat on. He's got, you know, just kind of sweat pants on. And you know, he's got his jersey, his red jersey, the contact jersey. And non-contact jersey on, but you could tell he's not participating, practicing. He walks over to where the QBs are and he's observing. So I'm trying to slow play it. I'm trying to walk as slow as possible. Right. We've already tweeted out that, hey, no Kurt Cousins. We'll have to ask a coach, Kubiak about that when we get to talk to him later on this morning.

4:26And then also we see him. So then it's like, okay, well, Kurt Cousins is here, but he's just observing. But then he was walking and he looked like he was walking with attitude, looked like he wasn't happy, looked like he was a little angry and so some, man, why is Kurt angry? Right. He don't know and nobody is told us anything and all we could think is, well, we have to ask. That'll be the first thing we ask when we get into the media room. Well, Clint Kubiak, he saved us the details. As soon as he walks in, he said, before he ever gets asked a question, he says, all right, you know, first of all, I'd like to say Kurt Cousins is starting quarterback for the Raiders. Boom. First and foremost, and then he says that Kiron Crawford is out with Achilles injury and he's going to miss the season. We already knew he was going to miss the season. He was placed on IR and it wasn't designated to return. That's unfortunate, right? New he had some kind of ankle issue, didn't know as an Achilles and that really stinks. I'm hoping that Kiron Crawford could come back, terrible way to start off your NFL career to look like a promising young player, look like he's starting to come together and starting to figure things out and then all of a sudden get hit with something like that.

5:29Achilles injuries. So, you know, he's been posting some pictures on social media where, you know, it looks like he's got his, you know, his leg and his Achilles and everything wrapped up. I don't know if he already had surgery or whatever the case may be, but obviously everyone's praying for a speedy recovery for Kiron Crawford. But back to the big news, which was Kurt Cousins name the starting quarterback. And it's funny because it was basically the worst kept secret, right? We have been saying for so long that this is what the Raiders want to do. They wanted to start the veteran quarterback. We've rolled out all the reasons why they want to start the veteran quarterback instead of Fernando Mendoza, the number one overall pick. Now, with Kurt Cousins being named the starting quarterback, Fernando Mendoza becomes the first number one overall pick since 2018 Baker Mayfield not to start week one. And Baker Mayfield was in the action for Cleveland by week four or so. So again, like I said, a million times I said it to anyone who asked me on social media, anyone I talked to in person, anyone who calls into the Locked No Matter Park as voicemail line. I always say, what's the rush? There is no rush. I know that he's going to be the franchise quarterback moving forward.

6:32It's not a matter of if it's win. And so that's the question that you asked now, well, when is he going to get into the mix? When is he going to get some action? How is he going to develop and think who be acquiesced that question? How is he going to develop and it basically was get there early? Stay a little bit late. You know, work a little bit in between drills. You know, days like Wednesday when Kurt Cousins wasn't participating. Fernando Mendoza was running with the ones. So he has to take advantage of those days as well. Those are going to be important. And it's going to be on the Fernando to try to, you know, really hone in and develop while he's still, you know, while he's still in the framework of what the Raiders are trying to do because now, once it's a regular season, it's not like training camp reps, right? It's not, well, we're going to get ones here and then we're going to split them up. And no, no, no, no, right. The starting QB is always going to get the ones. But Kurt Cousins being all phone Wednesday, that was by design. So I'm assuming that there's going to be more days like that. And Fernando Mendoza will be able to take advantage. Now where I messed up and this is 100% on me, not on anyone else in the room, you know, they can feel whatever way they want to feel about it.

7:33But I know as soon as Clint Coupiak walked out of the room, I looked at everyone and said, I can't believe it. I didn't ask is Fernando Mendoza quarterback number two is it going to be a no-connel? And there's a real conversation there because as I said it to the other people in the room, the other media members, you know, one guy had one opinion and he's like, oh, no, I'm assuming that A no-connel is the backup. Another guy said, I'm assuming that Fernando is the backup. I said exactly why that question should have been asked. And I was angry at myself. I mean, that's why I'm there is to ask questions that, you know, we need to know the answers to. And so I felt like that I failed. That was on me, even though there was a handful of people in the room as well that any of us could have asked that question. I just was mad because I thought as soon as he walked out of the room, it hit me like, what? Why didn't you ask that question? So we'll get an opportunity next week to ask that question, but that's a question that I should have the answer to right now. And I don't. So that is on me. We also found out on Wednesday that Mike Washington, Jr. Changes number from 30 that he was rocking in the preseason to four. Four was the number that Shedrick Jackson was wearing while he was a member of the

8:34Raiders. And when he got waived on Sunday, number four became available. And it was wild because Matt gave the kicker picked up number four really quickly. As soon as Shedrick Jackson was waived, it's like Matt, Matt gay went and got number four. And then he quickly went back to 14. Right. He went from 14 to four right back to 14. So Mike Washington, Jr. He wore that number in college at Arkansas. So not a big surprise that he wanted that number. And it became available when Shedrick Jackson got waived. But like I said, Matt gay had it immediately. And then boom, all of a sudden, I went right back to Mike Washington, Jr. We were actually out there at the practice facility. And like I said, we were going through the roster and it hadn't even been updated yet. And so the PR came to us and said, oh, by the way, Mike Washington is number four. Matt gay went back to 14. So it was like, okay, I got a little clarity there was able to go through and see that those guys were there at practice. So I say it all the time, you know, there's some, some guys, some young guys, some rookies that play that fans get excited about. Man, I want to get this guy's jersey. I want to get this guy's jersey. Don't buy jerseys unless it was Fernando Mendoza.

9:35That was obvious. But don't go buy a guy's jersey. Don't get a custom one made until you know what the actual number is going to be. It's not necessarily the rookie mini camp, the OTA, the mandatory mini camp and training camp number, right? Wait till the cut downs happen. Wait till, you know, the roster is solidified and they get into the regular season. Then feel comfortable with going and getting that jersey because that most likely will be their number. Like I said, a guy like Fernando Mendoza, we knew his number was going to be 15. That's easy, right? You don't have to worry about that. But other guys just like a Mike Washington, Jr., he was number 30 in in camp and then all of a sudden he, he's now he's number four. So, you know, anyone who's excited, I was like, man, I'm going to get that Mike Washington jersey. I'm going to get one custom made. You would have got the wrong number so you don't want to do that. So that's obviously the big news of the day was Kurt Cousins officially being named the starting QB for the silver and black. And of course, that's the biggest storyline nationally when it comes to the Raiders, but they have plenty of storylines to talk about. We'll talk about a handful of them coming up at segment number two of today's Lockdown

10:36Raiders podcast. Before we get to that, though, I do want to tell you about the title sponsor of the show, which is Game Time. There are more live events than ever. We're seeing right now. The game's concerts, comedy shows, festivals, the hard part usually isn't deciding what you want to attend. It's actually getting the tickets between long wait times, confusing checkout process and surprise fees, buying tickets because sometimes feel harder than it really should. That's why so many fans are turning the game time. The app is built to make buying tickets simple with upfront pricing, see views before you buy an exclusive savings opportunities to help get you to the event you want without hassle. And there's so many events that come here to Las Vegas. It's like every weekend, there's something big going on, whether it's a fight, it's a concert, some kind of sporting event, whatever comedy shows, I've been blessed to be able to go to a lot of these different events. And the way I do it is with Game Time. Just take the guess we're going to buy tickets every time an event you can think of with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create the account, use promo code lock down for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, create the account, use the promo code lock down.

11:36It's all one word, LLC, K, ED, O N for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Shave dice by the beach, a trip to the state fair, and a throwback flick at the local drive-in. They're more than just items to check off the summer bucket list. There are also opportunities to earn 2% daily cashback when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay. Apply for Apple Card now and use in minutes with Apple Pay. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more. You're a Lockdown Raiders, your daily podcast on the Las Vegas Raiders, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, everyday. All right, Nation, here we go. Second number two of today's Lockdown Raiders podcast. Want to get into some of the top story lines when it comes to the Raiders and the 2026 season. And of course, you know, Kurt Cuzin is getting the starting quarterback, getting that recognition from Clint Kubiak on Wednesday.

12:38When will Fernando Mendoza start? When will he get in on the action? Is it a mistake what the Raiders are doing? You know, should they be rushing from Mendoza onto the field so they can get him some early burns so he can get acclimated to the NFL? Or are they taking the slow approaching? Is that the right approach, right? That's, that was the big storyline and that's going to continue to be the big storyline. Nationally, I mean, I was sitting up in Studio Q where I'm sitting at right now all day on Wednesday, you know, and every time I looked up at the TV on Sports Center, that's what it was about. Kurt Cuzin's Kurt Cuzin's Kurt Cuzin's. What are they doing with Mendoza? Mendoza is the first number one overall pick since Baker Mayfield in 2018. Like they're throwing it all out there. Like that's the only storyline and I keep saying all I know the quarterback is a sexy position. I get it, right? The quarterback, if you don't have a quarterback, you're in trouble. Well, the good thing is that the Raiders have options and this is what I've been talking about the whole time. It's such a luxury to be able to have options. It's like having multiple vehicles, right? You don't have to drive one.

13:39It's great to be able to have one very reliable car, but you don't have to drive the same one if you have multiples. Well, they have multiple options at the quarterback position. And really, you can say they have three options if you throw a no-connel in there as well. And I don't want to be disrespectful. So I'll just throw them in there. But the be a team that picked number one overall got the franchise quarterback and still had an opportunity to maybe not play him right away is a true luxury. But that's not the only storyline that goes along with this team. I keep saying it's not the Las Vegas, Mendoza's and it's not the Fernando Raiders. It's the Las Vegas Raiders. So one of the big storylines with this team as far as I'm concerned is the coaching staff. Clint Kubiak, first time head coach, Robbie Leonard, first time defensive coordinator. How do these guys deal with game in and game out type situations? Because we've seen how many times really sharp OCs not be really good head coaches. How many times have we seen specialty groups like the defensive line group, that coach

14:40not become a really good defensive coordinator? It's a different ball game. It's one thing when you're tasked with running a certain group, a certain position. But when you're in charge of everything, it's a different ball game. It really is. So I believe in Clint Kubiak. And we've seen some really good sharp offensive minds like Ben Johnson become a really good head coach. I've seen other guys like Josh Medaniel, Susan really sharp offensive mind, really good offensive coordinator, terrible head coach. Those are just two really good examples right there. And that's just what happens. So as much as I believe, Clint Kubiak is going to be really good. As much as I believe Robbie Leonard is going to be really good until they actually go out there and show improve. We don't know just like we talked about on Wednesday show. What will success be judged by this year? That's an element of it as well. How does the coaching staff do? What about in-game situations? Clint Kubiak, he carries himself very calm, cool, collectible, which I believe is a good thing moving forward.

15:40But is he going to be able to throw the challenge flag at the right time? Is his time management going to be good? Is it going to, you know what I mean? Are the players that should be in the games? Are they in there? Right? I mean, is the young guys, are they getting the burn? Are they going to do like, you saw last year with Pete Carroll where guys like Jack Bash and Dante Thornton and Caleb Rogers and others didn't really get any burn until the very end of the season. So at this stage of the game, we still don't know who those guys can be. I, again, don't think that that's going to be the case is a very young team. And I know that they're committed to playing these guys. I know they're committed to doing it the right way. But what's it going to look like? That's a big storyline. How is this coaching staff going to do? Another, another storyline goes with Robbie Leonard. This defense in general coming together. And we spoke with John Spitek and Brian Stark the other day at the facility. I asked John Spitek about Robbie Leonard and he said, man, you know, he's coached with the same intensity. He's coached with the same passion. We brought in a lot more talent for him to put his defense together.

16:44So with that statement that he said to me, that's saying, you got to get this defense turned around. There's playmakers on that side of the ball. How quickly can they come together? It's not just Max Crosby in them. It's Max Crosby. It's Quitte Pay. It's Quay Walker. It's Nicobie Dean. You know, they obviously drafted a handful of guys, four different guys in the secondary. So this defense is a completely new looking defense. Yes, Darryn Porter is the second year corner. He's obviously coming back. Stokes. Yeah, he's coming back second year with the Raiders. I know that, you know, they got Jeremy Chan. You've got Isaiah Polamau. But for the most part, this defense is pretty, pretty new looking with a lot of different playmakers in multiple different positions. There's more playmakers on this defense this year than I've seen on this Raiders team in a very long time. But how quickly can they come together? Can they stop the run? Can they stop the run? Right? I mean, the preseason, I know it's the preseason. You can't judge everything by what we see in the preseason, but they couldn't stop the run. They couldn't stop the run against the Cardinals.

17:44They couldn't stop the run against the Texans in joint practice or in the game. They couldn't stop the run against the four in honors. They couldn't do it. Well, guess what? They're coming to down here. You know what they're going to do? They're going to run the ball. They got multiple backs that can get it done and Devon H. Ann is one of the best running backs in the league. Can this team stop the run? First and foremost, I know there's guys bloodthirsty pirates that want to get to the quarterback, but can they stop the run? And if they can't, they're going to be in trouble because H. Ann will run it and run it and run it. And remember, my amy's the game that everyone thinks, all right, that should be a Raiders dub. And I believe it should, but you got to go out there and do it. You can't just show up. You can't act like it's the Carolina Panthers coming to town when they had no wins and Bryce Young had just got benched. And all this is going to be easy win. Just got to clock in, get a dub and you saw what happened. They got ran out of their own building. Stop in the run. That's going to be huge on that defense. If you can stop the run, everything else comes from that. Then you could pin your ears back and get to the quarterback. Another storyline to think about.

18:46The backfield, the running backfield, right? Gen T and Washington. That could be a nice one, two punch, right? Clint Kubiak at the scouting combine in Indianapolis back in February. Got to get a wingman for Asher Gen T. You know, Clint Kubiak and John Spitex words, you know, stood on the table for Mike Washington. He could be a really good player in this system. So obviously he identified that wingman and knows what Asher Gen T could do. He's already talked about him being very Christian McCaffrey like obviously being able to run the rock and catch the ball of the backfield. And then you have a wingman in Mike Washington, Jr. Similar to what he had in Seattle with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonne. And I know that Walker ended up doing all the heavy lifting towards the end because Charbonne was injured, but they had that one, two punch. They have a one, two punch now with the Raiders and Gen T and Washington. That's a storyline to pay attention to, right? Can that offensive line come together? So those two dudes can can put in work, right? I put that off. It's a line. I put the running game.

19:47I put the weapons around and put them all kind of in the same category because you're going to have to have those dudes up front. But if you want to just separate it, that's a storyline in itself. How quickly can the offensive line come together? How much of a difference is Rick Denison as the offensive line coach going to be as, as, you know, compared to Brennan Carroll, right? Where players last year didn't understand what was going on. I had Richie and Cognito on my radio show the other day. He said, man, you the offensive lineman didn't, didn't feel like they were being coached and taught correctly. They were so confused on what they even were asking them to do. So Rick Denison, who actually coached with Richie and Cognito when Richie was in Buffalo, he said, man, that dude is going to get it right. Okay. So how quickly are they going to come together? If that offensive line comes together, can Colton Miller stay healthy? How big of a difference is Tyler Lindemont going to make it the center position? That's a storyline is this offensive line. And then I mentioned the weapons, Brock Bowers, you know, he's target number one. Best tied in the league is not even close, right? He's he's he's fantastic. And I think in this offense, he's going to be great.

20:48Is he going to be enough with that Y receiver room? Is he going to get enough of a compliment from that Y receiver room to help still keep him clean? Or are they going to say, yeah, those Y receivers there, they're nothing. Let's just focus in on 89, make sure he doesn't beat us. Can these Y receivers play a complimentary role to Brock Bowers? They don't necessarily need to be ones, right? We said that before the chief did it for quite a while after Tyree Kill. They had Travis Kelsey in them. Well, the Raiders have Brock Bowers and they have other Y receivers, trade Tucker who I believe can be a good Y receiver. Jalen Nailer, I believe, could be a good Y receiver. Jack Bess is a guy I believe can extend drives. Be that, you know, that possession receiver. What else are they going to have? Is is is Malik Benson going to step up? Is that six round pick? Is he going to be that guy that we saw in training camp and preseason making himself available? Or as, you know, the competition now that he'll be going up against ones when he's in there. He'll be going up against, you know, really good corners. Is that going to take him out of the game?

21:49Obviously, we won't know that until the season starts, but that's just a handful of storylines to follow with this team outside of Fernando Mendoza and Kurt Cus is in the quarterback position. But nationally, what you're going to hear, and I don't mind it because it keeps the Raiders in the conversation. It keeps all the national media still talking about the Raiders, but that's all they're going to focus in on as a QB position. It's up to us to talk about all the rest. What's on your mind? What are you talking about? We'll actually hear from you next. We close out the show 707 654 4693. We hear from you coming up segment number three. Before we get to that, though, I do want to tell you about another great sponsor we have here on the show. And that's Fandall. College football fans is time to put your dollars to the test with college football pick them from Fandall. Each week, you can make 10 free against the spread picks. Finish with one of the week's top pick totals and you can win a share of 500,000 in bonus bets. There's no entry free and no way to require it. Just make your picks based on your college football knowledge and see how you stack up.

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23:57The Dell XPS built for you. Your Lockdown Raiders, your daily podcast on the Las Vegas Raiders, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Here we go, R&N, same in number three. It's a Lockdown Raiders podcast. Your calls and text draft at Lockdown Raiders podcast. Voice mail line 7076544693. Thanks so much for making this the first listen of the day. Now let's go ahead and get into the first call. This one comes from Jose. In MacAllen, Texas, he's calling to talk about what we talked about on Wednesday show. What in how success will be judged this season for the sale for R&N Black? Here's Jose in MacAllen, Texas. Hey, what's up, Q? What's up, Barry? Thanks again for everything you all do. This is Jose Coney from MacAllen, Texas. And I just wanted to chime in on that topic of what would make the Raiders season successful one. And of course, winning and having a winning record would definitely make it successful.

24:59But another thing for me that would make it successful aside from laying the foundation and just being progress. For me, it would be knowing that this team has an identity and knowing it by either late October or November. You know, what the teams, what they're playing, the styles, for them just to have an identity. I feel like they didn't have that at all the last two seasons. First under AP, AP knew what he wanted, but we just never saw that on the field. And last year, we just didn't know what the heck the team was doing at all. So for me, that would be a successful season. And another thing would be knowing what exactly you have in each player. By that, I mean, know what you have in, for example, your wide receiver. Last year, they barely got any playing time. And this year, we're hoping that they'll get those minutes that they didn't get last year.

26:04And that Spite Tech and Company will know exactly what they have that way that can go and tackle the off season with high rings or in the draft. So to me, those would be the things I would make a successful season. And I'm just hoping for a winning record this year. I know it's a long shot, but I think it's possible. But yeah, thanks again and well, talk soon. Peace. Bigos, hey, thanks so much for the call. Appreciate you. Have an identity. A staffers that identity early, have an understanding of what you have in the cupboard from the wide receivers, other weapons, understanding what you need going into the next off season. That was a big mistake. I thought the Rares made in 2025. And whatever the reason was, whether that was won't Pete Carroll, or that I was a combination of him and John Spite Tech, not being on the same page. It doesn't really matter whose fault it was. It just happened. The Rares went into the off season last year and did not know what they had in the, in the cupboard. They had no shopping and didn't really have a complete grocery list.

27:05They knew some of the items from memory. Oh, yeah, need some office alignment. All right, cool. Need some playmakers on defense. Okay, cool. But what about the wireless unit? What do we have in Jack Bish? I don't know. I forgot to check. Right? What do we have in Dante, Thorne Jr.? I don't know. I forgot to check. I guess the worst thing that they made a mistake there. They really did. They should have played those guys a lot more. They're rookie year. Caleb Rogers. What do we have? Vinky's good. Right? I mean, Charles Grant. Same thing. Those guys should have got some burn, the minute that they realized that that season was a wash. Didn't happen. So yeah, I'm with you, right? And I believe that that's going to happen this year. They're definitely going to be committed to playing a lot of these young guys. And by the end of the season, probably before that, we'll know exactly what the Rares do or don't need moving forward. Thanks so much for the call. Definitely appreciate you. Up next, got a text from Bigfoot Raider. You're cute. Bigfoot Raider. Bigfoot Raider. Could you talk about something on the pod? 2024. Tom Tolesco drafted the Cameron DeCam Richardson, Traitaylor and MJ Demesire.

28:09And they're on on the Raiders anymore. Then spy tech drafted Cam Miller and Tommy Malat. They are on the Raiders anymore. Neither are they're not on the Raiders anymore either. Is that concerning or is that common with the NFL or is it just bad drafting by the Raiders? Thanks, Q. I appreciate you as Bigfoot Raider. Thanks so much for the text. Appreciate you. Well, DeCam and Traitaylor and MJ Demesire, look, DeCam was having a good camp. I thought he was going to stick around the Raiders waves. Then he actually got picked up off the waivers by the Saints. So he's now in the Saints camp. Traitaylor and MJ Demesire, I'm not sure if they're in the league anymore. And sometimes they just miss. Sometimes you just miss. And especially when you get to the later rounds picks, you just don't know. Cam Miller and Tommy Malat, that was the, that was kind of odd because those guys were both FCS QBs and Malat was going to be not a quarterback. He was going to be a guy that was going to be a, they said Julian Edelman type, why receiver? He was going to be that guy. That was his hero. That's the guy he looked up to and he's not in the league, right? Cam Miller, he got picked up off of the Raiders practice squad by the dolphins last year

29:10and then the dolphins waved him this year. So you know, that was really weird. I don't know. I know that Tom McMan, the Raiders special teams coordinator a year ago. He was a big Tommy Malat guy or was it Cam Miller? No, it's Tommy Malat. Yeah, he was a big time Malat guy to the point where he, you know, was like playing dumb when, when he got hit up by other special team coordinators like, hey man, what you think about this time Malat, he act like he had never heard of him. I remember him telling us that story. So, you know, it's, you get, you go and draft these picks with different influences. Certain coaches, as, as I mentioned, Clint Kubiak stood on the table for Mike Washington Jr. certain coaches will stand on tables for certain players and, and, and you know, just really pleaded the case on why you need to draft them. And so sometimes you just don't pick very well. And the Raiders have a history of not picking very well to be honest with you, right? But I mean, every team, no team and no GM's going to hit about a thousand. It just happens like that. Like I said, especially with later round picks, a lot of times they're just guys that have

30:11some upside. They're slipping a little bit for a reason or two. And, you know, you just see what you have. Sometimes they sometimes you get Max Krosby, sometimes you get D Cam Richardson. All right. It's just, it's just that simple. Thanks so much for the text. I do appreciate you. I'm next got a call from Pew from Iowa. Believe it's Pew. He's calling to talk about the coaching staff and what to expect from them in particular. His Pew from Iowa. Hey, I do. And this is Pew from Iowa. Just had a big question for you. I think there's a lot of this way to fans would like to have answered is, you know, how much can we expect out of the coaching staff? I think throughout the years, you know, we've been well bland and not having a whole lot of movement and stuff like that in the office and blame it on, you know, car, we blame it on whoever's quarterback. And we forget that these guys only do what the coach is telling to do, you know, we can hope for more from the coaches and we can hope to be at once to push the ball and once the next thing happen, you know, cousins can be boring, but he's only doing his job because it's just generals in the game.

31:12You know, they're just doing what needs to be done and if we do a lot of check downs for a reason, if we do certain things that I'd be throwing in certain areas, it's, you know, for a reason. We can just hope a lot out of the coaching staff. And that's where I'm hoping, you know, every year I buy that ticket and every year I get pumped up, even I sometimes am blind to the fact that we're going to not be good, but I said that in room, I read it on. That's just the way it goes. Like, you know, I just hope the coaching staff wants more, I hope they're aggressive and want to attack and not just settle for things because we have never ever in history since I've been alive and we ever worried about the kicking game. And now we do. So let's three points that up to a lot. We find them a lot in the past. Hopefully we still have those coming, but that's all I want to just talk about was what can we expect out of the coaching staff? Are they going to be aggressive or not? Thanks a lot. You said. You thanks so much for the call. Appreciate you. And it's funny. Back to what we were talking about segment number two storylines with coaches, right? I mean, defensively, you want to talk about being aggressive?

32:13I think Robbie Leonard. He wants to have a very aggressive attacking type defense. I mean, he's told me Q think Brian Flores. I know he worked with Mike McDonald. He's worked with other coaches, but as he told me, think more Brian Flores. That's what I'm really going for. The question is does he have the personnel to run it? And can they all pick it up quickly? How quickly is it or how long is it going to take? I guess it's a better question for them to be able to execute that defense the way he wants, right? And then offensively, you saw what Seattle's offense did last year, right? Clint Kubey. I've led these guys to 28 points, like 28.4 points per game. That's fantastic. But do the Raiders have enough weapons to get it done? Is the offense aligned going to be in place? Is the quarterback play going to be good enough? Right? I mean, there's so many questions running game going to be where it needs to be. And is the defense going to get the ball back? That's more important. Now, how much did the Seattle Carks defense get the ball back to the offense last year to help them put up all those points? They created a bunch of turnovers. Can the Raiders do that? Now, you know what I mean? So it's yes on the coaches, but as Lincoln Kennedy always says, coaches, coach, players

33:15play. The coaches could do everything they want. They can be as aggressive as they want to be. They can sit back and and and and not be as aggressive as they want to be. At the end of the day, all they can do is put the players in position to go make plays. It's going to be on the players to go get it done. But I do believe all the coaches on the staff are really good coaches. And I believe that they have a really good game plan of what they want from this team. It's going to be up to the team to go make it happen. Really good call. Definitely appreciate you. We'll close out with a text from California Dave out of West Tennessee. I got to tell you, man, it's been a minute. It's been a minute since I heard from from this guy. He's been rocking with this show for a very, very long time, like way back in the day. Right? I've been doing this show now for eight plus seasons. This is my eighth year with locked on and California days been rocking with me. Probably I would say at least six, six, maybe seven years at least. Right? And so looking at the text, I believe the last one I got from him before this one was in 2022. So he says, Q, California Dave out of West Tennessee, longtime listener.

34:16Thanks to Ari a longtime viewer loyalty and teams that take advantage of fans loyalty. Last year I boycut of the team. A fan since 1976 felt like I'm a Browns fan for the last 20 years. Didn't watch a game wearing a gear, not a to piggyback off another text that you read. I'm hopeful. Madden Stabler, Flores Plunkett, Gruden, Ganon. That's what I'm hoping for a coach in a quarterback to be joined at the hip. That would be Kubiak, Mendoza, peace out nation. Q love you. Love all the hard work you do for mine and our enjoyment. That's California Dave out of West Tennessee. And let me tell you brother, it's just great to hear from you. It really is and you're spot on when you say longtime listener. You are a long time listener. I really do appreciate that man. I can hear your voice right now. I mean, because you used to call in all the time too. I can hear your voice right now. My head man, it's put in a smile on my face. You're watching. I got a smile on my face right now man. And yeah, that's going to be a one to punch that I think is exciting for this team.

35:19And that's why when you knew that the Raiders had the number one overall pick as much as I always talk about continuity at the head coaching position, it just made all the sense in the world. Go get that sharp offensive mind. Go get the best guy possible to help maximize this quarterback. And that's what the Raiders did with Clint Kubiak. I do believe he's the right guy for the job. I feel a lot of John Groot in 1.0 with Clint Kubiak and we all know how that worked out. And the only thing about this is Fernando Mendoza is not a journeyman quarterback. Right? He's not a guy that's been basically a career back up like Rich Ganon was. And I was a big rich gandith fan. I couldn't believe when Kansas City used to keep me as the back up because he used to always be so good. I was really happy when the Raiders grabbed him. Mendoza's young Kubiak's young, they can grow together. That's something to get excited about. But man, it's even more exciting to hear from you. So thanks so much for the text. Still got a call from Jonathan Johnny, slow hands and Oakland, a text from Show Me Raider would get those coming up on tomorrow's show.

36:21We do have the squad show this morning. It'll be shantel Chan Lincoln Kennedy, myself and we'll have another edition. West. So West will join us as well. 735 to 835 one hour long, one hour strong live on the YouTube page. And of course, we'll continue to roll on and we'll finish off the week really strong back here on the Lockdown Raiders podcast for tomorrow. So until then, Rarination, take care of yourself. Take care of yourself. Definitely love on your family. Most importantly, as always, just waiting, baby. Hey, NFL fans, I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season or if your teams in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day on the Lockdown podcast network, the NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.