Bussin' With The Boys - Las Vegas Raiders GM, Dave Ziegler, Speaks On Derek Carr Situation, Going From Guidance Counselor To GM + Expectations Going Into Next Season

Episode Date: February 21, 2023

Recorded: January 20th 2023 | This weeks episode, Will recaps his time in Cabo as Taylor is still recovering from the week. Following the intro, the boys sit down with Dave Ziegler, GM of the Las Vegas Raiders. Have you ever wanted to know what it's to be a GM? No we aren't talking about your Madden franchise. Ziegler gives you a firsthand look at all the different responsibilities a GM has. Dave also tells his story how he went from Taylor's High School guidance Counselor, to NFL GM. Ziegler then goes on to explain what it was like coming into the Raiders organization + all of the moves he has planned going into the offseason to improve the Raiders team. If you are a huge football junky, you are going to love this episode. Biggest of hugs, tiniest of kisses. 0:00 Intro 26:55 Interview Starts 4:30 Ziegler was Taylor’s guidance counselor and journey to the NFL 10:15 what made him want to stay in scouting rather than coaching 18:45 How does it affect you that this job probably temporary 25:30 what were the first things you realized needed to be fixed with the raiders 29:20 scouting report on Will 36:20 Taylor transferring into Chaparral 37:45 Taylor scouting report 46:20 talk about the balance of business vs personal 50:15 Ziegler’s hardest situations he’s been in letting people go 1:00:00 How did Taylor get a 75% in his spanish class when he hardly tried 1:01:15 Ziegler was essentially assigned to Taylor 1:12:00 what is more important to you at the combine, the physical part or the interviews 1:15:35 most unique convo/question you have had with a player 1:18:30 anyone specifically you remember their interview who has been successful 1:21:40 navigating work life balance as a GM and coach 1:25:15 the best scouting report you’ve ever seen 1:36:00 as a GM where do you start when you’ve lost so many one score games 1:38:15 are you critical of the coaching sometimes more than the players 1:41:45 Derek Carr situation SUPPPORT OUR SPONSORS Chevy Silverado - The Strongest, Most Advanced Silverado Ever. Go to https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/st-patricks-day to shop our St. Patricks Day Collection! (https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/st-patricks-day)For more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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He's flying back from Arizona right now. We had a wonderful time in Cabo. We will get to some of that stuff. We'll get to the upcoming guests. We've got a lot of things going on. St. Patrick's Day stuff coming up. Spring Tour stuff coming up. A lot of cool shit.

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We're going to be dropping on Tuesday. We're going to be dropping on Thursday. This week we are dropping two episodes. We got Dave Ziegler today. And then what do we say we're going to do Thursday? Max Homa on Thursday, the boy. I think he got second over the weekend, yeah? I know, a tough, a tough one.

Dude, he's a stud. Max was a stud. We did a lot of cool shit over the Super Bowl week. We're interviewed, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, Burton Shane together. Maxoma. Who else? Dana White.

Dana White. We have Nickelback in the library. That was a phenomenal one. A lot of cool shit, but we are going to two weeks. We're going to try to get these episodes offloaded for you guys. Trust me, we know and we tease you guys and let you know who we've had on. You guys bitching, complain, and do the best possible thing you can do, and that's cry about it for us to release the episodes.

so we will be pushing them up. We're going to two a week. We will be going to two a week for, I don't know, I have no clue. I know until we get to the spring tour, which will be mid-March, we're going to start doing our NCAA, our college football spring tour where we went to Michigan, Tennessee, and Nebraska last year. We got about four interviews at each spot, dropped them on Monday, Tuesday, did our regular programming on Wednesday.

It'll be similar when we get to the spring tour, so a lot of fucking content that's going to be coming. Along with all of that shit, dude, we got bus scenes that the boy Mitch has been working on. Bus scenes just dropped with all the guests that we had on in the Super Bowl Week. We do Under the Hood. JP does those vlogs for Under the Hood. So we have a lot of content on our YouTube channel. If you are watching right now, don't forget, hit the subscribe button, hit that little ring bell down there for notifications, get notified, leave comments, all that stuff helps.

And the boys, Bustin has been on a heater recently. We were at Super Bowl Week and some of these big dogs coming up to. this pro like surprising they're just like hey we love your shit you guys are you guys are awesome blah blah and you're kind of just sitting there starstruck like uh calling coward one time um but um yeah dude cobo was a blast as you can tell your boy i'm not even wearing a hat like is this the first time i've never worn a hat on a podcast i you know you get a you get a fresh little deal you live a little longer on top the wife he compliments you a couple times she gives you the cookie when you know when you're in cobo

a few after times and then you start getting told that, hey, you look good without a hat. So I'm kind of rocking the no hat. What do you think, Jack? Yeah, it looks good. Do you like it? I do. I didn't even notice, honestly, that you didn't have a hat on. But now that you bring it up, it's a good luck.

I appreciate that. I needed that. I needed that. Got a little bit of sun. You guys know how it is being a full-blown Caucasian. When you're out in the sun for the first time, especially Cabo, yeah, Blas has no clue we're talking about. That's like... Between me and you will.

Yeah, that's between us. But you have a nice tent to you. but for myself I'm talking you got to reapply that SPF 50 every 45 minutes I was doing just to stay safe day two I went down to 30 SBF as you guys saw if you were keeping up with me on social media my belly button got a little reamed by old clifford the dog for a minute and so I had to it was one of those things where you like you know you moisturized and you just rub over and I got like a deep hole in my belly button like I'm an any I'm an any guy I saw that video yeah I'm in any guy you saw it where a nice drip down tease you a little bit of it. I'm just kind of rubbed my hand over it. So I forgot to take my time to massage the inside of my hole. But it was a blast in Cabo. A little bit of more of a spring break vibe than a relaxing vacation. On our way back yesterday, I'm thinking, man, I was like, I was throttled pretty much every day. So I slept in every day as long as I could. Like, you know, you know when

you're like used to waking up or like you'll wake up, wake up, wake up, and you just force yourself to go back to sleep. I was doing that every day. But that kind of sleep is an actual sleep. Like alcohol sleep is not real sleep. So now I feel like I need a relaxing vacation, but it was a great time. Shout out to the Luans. Bree Chandler, Roland Solo,

because Mike Chandler had to leave us, had to dip on his last minute because the boy, as you guys already know, is on the Ultimate Fighter. So he's in Vegas in the house right now, but we miss Mike. We miss Mike Chandler and Cabo. Anything else before I go to

these next topics. Did I hit the upcoming episode? What's up coming? What's up in the tank? And if you're in Nashville, oh, here's a wrinkle for the spring tour and even in Nashville because the spring tour

we're dialing in our colleges right now, but we're looking at doing a live show at each stop we go to. So we would go in, do a couple of interviews just like we did last year, and then in the evening, looking at venues in the cities to do

to do live shows. So be on the lookout for all that shit at Bustin WTBS. We're at on all social media. Yeah, keep up with us there. But this past week being in Cabo, I didn't get to check out the XFL. Did any of you guys get to watch the XFL stuff?

I love that, Jack, I love that you and Clump, shout out Jeremy Clump. I love that you guys are being a vessel for the XFL because we need to... It's all clump. It's all clump. Dude loves ball. Yeah, dude loves ball, man. But I love that we are.

shouting out the XFL and like leaning in and in helping be a fucking microphone for the boys because it does seem a lot of positive feedback yeah i was gonna say it seems like a lot of players too like i saw a j brown tweet hey this XFL is entertaining as hell like everybody putting clips talking about it uh the rock you see him out there midfield before it all starts he's got his fucking authentic game jersey on it got like little shoulder pads under there just live in the dream 54 you guys know why i wear 54 because i didn't make the 53 man roster. So I'm the number 54th guy out there. Seven bucks in my pocket. When I got cut in the CFL, there was only seven bucks in my pocket. And yes, now I'm a billionaire. But the point is, I'm still the 54th man. So I wanted to buy the league, and now I have my own football league.

But I saw him out there. Just, he was dropping gems, but it is funny to see the rock because sometimes it's like, brother, you don't need to do this much. Yeah. There's a master ship. For whatever reason, he's got a massive chip on his shoulder. He's got the Iron Paradise wherever he travels. Like, he's always just pissed off for whatever reason for greatness.

It's like, brother, slow down, kiss your kids, hang out with your wife, like, enjoy your money a little bit. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. But the XFL, Blas, you were talking about there were some rules. You felt like people were taking a liking to the new rules or the different rules that are implemented in the XFL. What are those? Yeah, so some of the more, like, noticeable ones was definitely the kickoff. so both teams starting five yards apart over at the 30-yard line. It's just like it's like a safety thing, but I think the NFL, if I'm not mistaken, is like in like they're working together, the XFL and the NFL to try out some new rules to hopefully, you know, transition them into the NFL.

And the kickoff I know for sure is like definitely one of them. And the reaction on social media seemed pretty positive. What was the kickoff one? The kickoff one is so both teams essentially start five yards apart. over at the at the receiving team's 30 yard line. So the kicker will still kick off from where they normally do. Once that ball is caught, the two teams cannot move until the receiver catches the ball. So both teams are essentially five yards apart.

I don't know if you could pull up a graphic of it. But like I said, the both teams are five yards apart. Once the ball is caught, that's when the play starts essentially. So the collision is essentially from five yards apart. opposed to the full football length. The players are five yards apart from each other. Right when the returner catches the ball, that's when they take off. Correct.

The kickoff return, okay, here we go. So they're trying to encourage the kickoff. Yeah. Yeah, they're encouraging the kickoff is what they said, but also like adding a safety element to it. It takes a lot of a lot of strategy out of it in the kick game, in the kicking game, because there's no, you know, doubling guys. It seems like everything's a one-on-one blocks

because everybody's just five yards apart. Do you like it, though? As far as, like, safety, do you think that's... As far as safety, it seems like a plus. As far as, like, entertainment and violence, I think it's a major step back for mankind in football. But, yeah, I mean, hey, safety, they're making it safer. I would think in the XFL you want more...

You want more like... I thought they were going a little more gritty, you know. Yeah, I think they're getting away from the WWE stuff. Like, I'm thinking a little bit more blitz. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, slaming cats on the head. I just keep wanting to do the eggs.

Are there any other rules that are way different? I heard that you can hear all the plays being called. Yeah, so the quarterback has a mic so you can hear him pretty much call to play. You can hear the head coach call to play in, which I don't know how that kind of helps. I mean, that's kind of crazy, right? Like, you're essentially giving away the play. But the announcer has a pretty good idea of what's coming. he's essentially Tony Romo in the whole thing.

So the announcer and everybody listening gets to... Gets to hear the play come in. Why not a coach? Like, just... They're just trying to do stuff to separate themselves. Yeah. More fan engagement. Yeah, something that's going to keep people interested and...

Cooned in, maybe learning something different. Yeah, I feel like the NFL is almost using the XFL is like a trial run for like different, like, schemes and like ruling. So, like, if they try to incorporate something... stuff in the NFL, you know, in the next coming seasons, they'll work really well at the XFL. Maybe they're using that. Which makes sense.

Like, if you're in the XFL, you want to work in hand in hand with the NFL. They can't do anything wrong because it's like this league that's just getting started back up again for the however many of the time. Right. Because if you're working with the NFL, it's more, it'll end up being more, you know, eyes, ears, them encouraging it. Like, if you were kind of standalone doing your own thing, say more WWE style or Generation X, so to speak, like the NFL would be hands off and not even bother promoting or working with you or doing anything to help that league, like, stay afloat.

So probably that is probably a smart move. And it's a way for guys who, you know, outside of the, you know, making a team in the NFL, it is a way to get some tape out there. I saw Josh Gordon was out there. He caught a touchdown pass. Yeah, AJ McCarran's out there too. Really? Yeah. Yeah, I saw some guys out there, you know, might have to make some moves.

One of the things it was crazy, too, was the, you're 10, brother. The way you could challenge, you could challenge fouls or potential fouls, which is kind of crazy. So you can challenge, like, holding. You could challenge penalties. Yeah, the whole, yeah, there's so much greater in that. But I get it being like a little testing, testing league, but not just that, but they're trying to do their own thing and find their own lane, too.

But I'm glad we're leaning into it. And there's never a bad time. Like, when football's on, especially if everybody's into it, it's it's good that we have that now that the NFL season is over because it did seem like a lot of people were tuned in and having a good time with it shall we do the shout-out no-free shout-out then introduce Dave Ziegler sure Blas you got one you want to start yeah I got a quick one um so my shout-out no free shout-out this week it actually happened to me on the way here to the bus early this morning I knew we were going to hit traffic because we were starting a little bit early so we're going to hit that morning rush

but one of the good things about living in the city of Nashville for roughly three, four years now is knowing those alternate routes. So I saw traffic was pretty backed up and I remembered like, there's an alternate route once I hit this ramp. So what I had to did is I hit that exit, took that alternate route, beat all the traffic, and got here with no issues. That is nice. It is good when you got the little, you know, the ultimate routes on the back of your hand,

you kind of know them over everybody else. And you're a cop. So weird flex on that too. My shout-up for shout-out is also travel-related. I was flying back from Tau yesterday. We had a flight delay. It was like 30 minutes. And we're already getting back at like midnight.

And that extra 30 minutes is crucial, especially on a Sunday night. So we're on our last leg of the journey. And the pilot comes over the intercom. And he's like, like, good news. He's like, I know we got the delay. But we have like 130-mile-hour winds behind us. So we're going to cut off like 45 minutes. minutes of flight time. So we ended up getting there 15 minutes early, which is nice.

And the whole time, though, it was pretty turbulent ride, pretty bumpy. But I think you sacrificed some things for the greater gift of time. So shout out, no free shout out to, I guess just time traveling a little bit. Getting there a little quicker unexpectedly. Yeah, I need that. Dude, my shout out, no free shout out. It happened a couple times in Cabo. And I think it needs a refresher because, you know, the male gender, the testosterone is high. And sometimes you forget what the- Dilemma. Yeah. Sometimes, yeah, you think with the wrong head a little bit. You chase the

wrong things. You know what I mean? It could be late in a night and you're drunk. And we had a couple soldiers. We, you know, we had a couple of incidents. What was it? Incidents? So whatever. Where it's like I'm traveling back and I'm thinking like, man, the boys need to understand rule number one. unless it's just agreed upon, like, hey, we might get, we might get separated, do your own thing, that's all good. But rule number one, my shout-on-no-free shout-out goes to no man left behind. Because a couple times one of the boys were left. And the next morning, like, they can't get it in the gate. They got to figure out something.

No cash in their pocket. They're out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No way to get in, blah, blah, blah. All that stuff. And it happened a couple times where you're sitting there. and everything. I'm just thinking, like, why are we getting in the van and not making sure whoever it is? Because a lot of times it was just duos out there. Just a couple of them that stayed out together. Hey, we're going to go out. Everybody else is going to go back to the house.

So two would be out there late at night. Stay out late. And each time, somebody made it back. Somebody didn't. Somebody was upset that the other one left. The other one's like, hey, I tried telling you. And all I'm thinking is the core value of the boys when you're out. to be no soldier left behind. Your boy might be drunk and he might be hard to reel in. That's, you got to assume that. You got to be ready when shit hits the fan

because shit will hit the fan. It's all about keeping your composure and staying poised and getting all the soldiers back on the boat. You can't just be out, hey, I tried telling you and that's your thing. Like, you know he's about to get separated. You're out, you're out another city.

You're out in Cabo. You're just going to leave him out there because you want to go back and chase some pus or go back and get home? Like you got to make sure you throw him in the van and make sure he gets back. So my shout-out, no free shout-out goes to no man left behind. We need to be reminded of that. We need to be reminded of that because that was too, too many.

One time would be one too many. But that was too too many. I'm sitting back. I'm like, what are we fucking talking about? Do you guys not have the fundamental core values of what being for the boys means? Because that's one of them. You need to stop pointing fingers at each other. You should have made sure he got home.

But I had to get that off my chest. but that's my shot-out, no free shout-out. Nice. I'm gonna need that clipped. All right, let's get into Dave Zaker. Oh, did you guys see all the chaos, I guess I'll say? I was going to say the rumblings, but it was fair. It seemed loud.

The Jeffrey Star, all the Jeffrey Star stuff, all the, all the... It's so funny if you go on, like, different channels of ours, how, like, differently the response was. On our YouTube, overwhelmingly positive. I know, I noticed that too. And then if you go on like our Twitter, overwhelmingly negative, people homophobia screaming from the rooftops. And then... Streaming.

Facebook. I think most of our core demo just deleted their Facebook after seeing Jeffrey on there. But TikTok, we had our biggest clip ever on TikTok. That clip kind of took the internet by storm. We got to the point where I saw so many random accounts. Was it the they, the pronoun one? the pronoun one, which we knew that was going to cause a little bit of a stir. Yeah.

But it got to the point on Twitter where there were so many, like, accounts with two million followers tagging this, I mean, putting this clip out there and not even knowing it's from our podcast. So, like, I'm trying to like- I saw a woke. I'm trying to- Some, like, woke political tweet. And, of course, I dropped the, here's the interview.

That's what I, I just kept dropping the link. I'm like, yep, thanks for checking it out. Yeah. Full and below. But, yeah. There were other creators, too. Like, other creators on other platforms. creating reactions to the clip

and just making full-on videos. Which is great. Great for the boys. I just, I guess I'm not surprised. Like, when I saw some people, like,

I saw one comment who's like, oh, I've been a day one or an OG. Like, this is, this is, basically like, I'm done with you guys now.

Like, extremely homophobic, just, he's not like saying homophobic stuff, but obviously it's like, what are you so fucking piss? Yeah, I've been an OG. I can't believe you guys went here.

I'm done with you guys. I'm deleting all my stuff supporting you guys now, and I'm done watching you guys. And it's almost like you sit there and you're kind of like, well, fucking good. This is best for all of us. Am I surprised that we have a demographic that's like that? No.

Like when I'm seeing all the back and forth, it's like it's good that we're getting more, you know, it's blown up. We're getting, you know, the stuff that you were talking about with YouTube, TikTok, all that kind of shit. But, you know, you're sitting there and you're seeing some of these fucking, wild-ass comments.

And you're like, did you guys even try to listen to the ever? Number one, Taylor absolutely bodybacked that interview. What a phenomenal job he did. Jeffrey was a stud, like being open, talking through everything. The pronoun stuff, absolutely fucking hilarious. We all knew that that would cause chaos, which is so funny that something like that causes chaos like that. But whatever, to each their own, whatever. Ishi.

But, no, it's kind of like you're like surprised and also not. surprised you're just like you know people are so fucking weird man if you're that mad like go figure that's that's like you something's wrong internally like go figure that shit out if you can't if you can't see the whole the thing that started off as humor and joke that built into this perfect segue to a podcast interview and then sitting down and having that conversation with Jeffrey Starr who by the way uh I don't think it's been on YouTube for like a long time or something he just has like 60 something million followers I guess or subscribers he's like a very savvy business person, man.

Very savvy businessman. He goes, man, yeah? Very savvy businessman. And I thought it was a good interview. I listened to it. I listened to all of it because I'm just, you know, like I was in the joke, but I'm more just on Twitter, like bantering about it.

And then like jabbing Taylor and stuff, like, you know, doing shit that guys do with each other. Gay stuff. But I wanted to deliver. listen to the interview and I thought it went awesome for just all the, the entire dynamic of everything. And Jeffrey coming in and talking about, I'm about to hook up with Tanner at the end. Like, you know, the shit was funny. But if people can't laugh or not take shit, people are way too serious about that shit.

And it's like, yo, go figure your own shit out. We don't need you to listen to bust with the boys. If you're going to be that. You've been listening since day one. You can see the progression as well and how, like, you can see the way we joke, the way we do things. Like, and you can't understand that from being a day one. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

It's like, all right. Are you really? Take a fucking hike, brother. Yeah, we might have lost like 10 or so followers, but we definitely gained like 10,000. For sure. It does not like, our subscribers, we've been. Yeah, yeah.

Well, not that. We don't want that. Yeah. We don't even want that type of fucking. Exactly. Anyway, the Dave Ziegler. This, our first GM, he treated us real nice.

Had Taylor and I over, sent a car for us. We spent a nice hour and a half with them. Got us water afterwards. little rough, got a little rowdy in there. Our first GM, it was a very good experience. So Dave Ziegler, the GM of the Raiders, which Raider Nation, you guys are going to fucking love this interview. He's the GM for the Raiders, but he was Taylor's guidance counselor,

and I believe Special Teams coach, when Taylor was in high school. And Ziegler was very pivotal in helping Taylor focus up so he can get to Michigan. So them reuniting and hearing the stories and back and forth between them was really cool because you get an insight on Taylor being the wild card that he was back in the day. And just Dave Ziegler has climbed from being a fucking guidance counselor in high school to working his way up through the process. And now he's the GM of the Raiders. But very good episode.

The theme of Dave Zieg, of Dave Zieg, I like to call him Zieg. Uncle Zig. I'd love to call him Uncle Zig, actually. Is the fear... Fuck, sorry, I still got that little tickle in my throat. The theme of Dave Ziegler is the fear of failure, not being scared to fail. And you'll hear him allude to that and talk about that a lot, and you hear it throughout his process

because he has climbed the ladder, like through scouting, through the whole front office game. Like, he's done the whole thing to be where he's at now. talks, you know, hits on the Patriots and everything else. And we touched on the Derek Carr situation. And just a lot of things that he alludes to is like, yo, you know, I know I'm in this position now. No clue how long it'll last. I know I'm going to, you know, I'm going to give it hell.

And I'm not going to be afraid to fail. I'm going to go with my gut. I'm going to go with my instinct. And it was a very good interview. I think you guys are going to like it a lot. Again, if you're watching right now, make sure to subscribe. There's been a lot of new subscribers. Welcome to the Bus Boys.

We're all about being for the boys championing each other. It's a gritty little podcast. We have fun. We don't take ourselves too seriously. But make sure you're subscribed. Apple, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, which hopefully you're watching on right now. But all that stuff helps a lot.

And then you can follow us at Buston WTB. But hey, I'm sure we have an ad read after this. But we will jump into episode 202, Dave Ziegler, the GM of the Las Vegas Raiders. Before we jump into the episode, St. Patrick's Day is coming. And I will not, I'm not fucking lying, boys. I'm not yanking your chain.

The boy Garrett, he's put some heat together. The lightning teas that are a bet that's been a bestseller for everybody buying for their team that we've had our barstow store. We've made that into a St. Patrick's Day shirt. And then we also have like a, we also have a hoodie. Like my favorite hoodie, the Seeger Boys one, kind of looks like that. Kind of like the off white a little bit. and it's got like a little leprechaun. Garrett, you got them?

I see you, I see you making your way over here. Oh, there we go. We got these boys. The Fookin boys. Dude, this shit is awesome. The Fukin boys, we got the leprechaun ripping the bus back there for the Fookin boys. We're busting with the Fookin boys. And then here's our lightning tea.

Dude, this shit is fired. Damn, I didn't see him out. Which is he, right? Ireland is the boys. But you can. get all that store. That barstillsports.com. I'll say that again.

Go to store. dot barstall sports. com to shop our St. Patrick's State collection. Link is in the description. Check it out. I'm sure we will be saturating your timelines with our merchandise once that stuff does become available. Because, hey, Garrett, when does it become available Thursday?

It becomes available Thursday. So in two days from now. And since we're on the wave of St. Patrick's Day, make sure you are buying yourself a Bustin with the Boys Whistle Pig Pig piggyback bourbon Age six years Heat up front, smooth, finished off a nice little

What is it, Crem-Burley finish? Like a little latte, a subtle light sweetness at the end. Very warm sits on top of your stomach. It is very smooth. But yeah, make sure whistle pig, we got that shit too. You go on their side.

Just type in, if you go to Google, if you use Google or Bing or whatever, just type in, Bustin with the boys' bourbon. And it'll take you straight there. Hopefully delivers where you guys are at, ship store you guys are at, but it is available in all Whistlepig retailer.

So if you got a local retailer that carries whiskey, hey, do you guys carry whistle pig? If they say yes, our bourbon should be in that store. But got it? Store, barstolesports.com, St. Patrick's Day Collection, bust with the boys bourbon. Let's have a fucking day, boys.

Be a fucking wolf. Enjoy the episode with Dave Ziegler. So you were in a car, like today, we're at this is davy ziggle everybody bustling with the boys ripping a pod this is going to be an excellent podcast you can already tell it's going to be amazing yeah we're sitting here the while the boys

were setting up 10 15 minutes Zig's out here putting on a show for the boys Max crosbie drove us over here Max crosbie drove us over truly just the Raiders just giving us love the Raider the Raider Nation is riding right now um but Ziggy you were uh we were going through text

hey can you come in the pod yeah I'll come in the pod can you do the 20th 21st this whole thing will is going to leave tomorrow you're like, we can do the 20th. I'm taking my kids to Legoland. I'm getting home before five. That's right.

But you texted, you must have been speeding on that highway because you're like, I'll be home before four o'clock. Yeah, the pedal was to the metal. Yeah, you were trying to get on the bus. Trying to make it happen. And yeah,

I had to break some, you know, some street coast. Yeah, you're in the auto bond. Yeah, I was going. You were out there doing the dance. You were out there doing the dance. Three kids. Yeah, what is it like driving,

getting the kids, driving home, you're on a solo mission with the kids. Yeah, it is mental fortitude, mental toughness, patience. Yeah. One of my youth coaches always told me, like, cool head wins a hot game. You know what I'm saying? You got to have a cool head in that hot moment.

Tensions got high a couple times now. Kids are yelling, screaming. There's a fight in the back. Someone got whipped with a coat in the eye, you know, a zipper hit him in the eye. Yeah. I mean, it got... Adversity struck early in a lot. he struck.

Yeah. And yeah, I had to buckle down and just kind of, you know, stay focused on what I came to do today, which was be on this podcast.

Yes, sir. Yeah, you were grinding. And so you were putting in that work as a dad and as a husband at Legoland knowing you were going to get this reward. Diet takes a hit on these trips too now.

That's why I was asking you when you guys have kids. I mean, the heartburn, it goes high when you're eating mini muffins. Sour patch burn goes high. Sour Patch kids. It's McDonald's.

You're at Legoland. Bunny tracks King Cone. You know. I'm going to sleep on that. Yeah, three of them the day. You know, slushies. Yeah. It's got to finish off the food too.

You know what I mean? I can't just be disregarding the food. Right, right. So like, you know, I go overtime on that too. So the body's hurting a little bit. You know, the back's cramped up from being in the car. But it was all for this moment. Yeah.

We've done it. It was all for this moment. This moment. Hey, and this moment is wild. It is wild. Because when you got hired to be the, GM, Taylor, he's like, he was my guidance counselor in high school. So that's the most, like, the most wild shit.

Guidance counselor to NFL GM. How in the fuck do you make that climb to get to, to get to where you are now? Because I really don't even know your story like the Arnold's, you know the Arnold's. Like, they would always kind of keep me up to date. And I didn't really know what you were up to. And they're like, hey, do you know like Zig's like number two at the Patriots? Like Ziegler? my high school counselor Ziegler

like yes and so I would see you but I low-key feel like you try to sabotage me every time we play the Patriots because I played there three times two out of those three times I saw you I did not play well Rough goes. Rough goes The one time I didn't see it was the 2019 playoffs

Yes I kept to myself and the boy I bawled We bowled that one But he would text me That was when you're playing you're playing chess with Dante Hightower Yeah I lost I went 500

You had a great game yeah yeah Yeah. I mean, I definitely got some early onset cussies. A lot of guys probably knew about that. We hit you with a lot of twists, a lot of line games and stunts, communication. You got to pick it up. Yeah. Yeah, we got you a couple times. I'll tell you, and we just had Max on, and he was talking about how we were talking about

Chandler Jones, obviously. And obviously what happened to me when he was at the Cardinals. But I was like, hey, even when I was healthy, like the one player that's kind of had my number the whole time has been Chandler Jones. Yep. He's long lever guy. Yeah. Super awkward mover.

Yes, unorthodox. I was like the word we used. Changes speeds all the time. Yeah. He is a tough one to block. But go back to you're a high school counselor. You're a high school counselor at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Yep.

I come see you my senior year. We can go into all my stuff in a little bit, but I want to know how you made it to a GM of possibly the coolest franchise. Yeah, wild journey for sure. So when I met you, obviously, I was a guidance counselor at Sheperau High School. school special teams coordinator running backs and tight ends coach definitely getting after dudes a yeah oh buddy special teams coordinator yeah yeah yeah yeah getting after dudes before my cards drawn up yeah like we were getting after it um and and so and then prior to that i'd always been

before i got to chaparral i'd been coaching at the high school level i was a social studies teacher um and then at one point i kind of football had always been like number one you know from I played in, you know, all the way through high school. I played in college, small college, all that stuff. And then, you know, I, before I got to Chaparral, I wanted to get more into college football. So I G8 at John Carroll University, which is where I went, coach receivers there. And then I was there for two years. And then I took a, you know, took the big move up and went to one double A and went to Iona in New Rochelle, New York.

Coach wide receivers there, coach special teams. And I was finishing my master's degree in school counseling at the same time. At Iona, I was only making, so we're called restricted earnings. I'd always tell us. Kids out there, do not take a position that says restricted earnings. That's not, that was seven. That was seven thousand dollars for the year. Oh, no way.

Yeah, for the year. And so I was like, you know, this wasn't really cutting it. And I had my master's degree. And again, so we'll get to this. But Josh McDaniels and Nick Casario, who's now the GM of the Houston Texans. We all played college football together. And so I'd really never wanted to use them to try to level up, if you will. I was kind of trying to make my own way and do my own thing.

And so eventually, like, kind of ran out of places to go. I owned it with $7,000. I just finished my master's degree in school counseling. So I was, like, going to go back out to Arizona where I'd been before. And I ended up at Chaparral. And so to be honest with you, when I was at Chaparral, I was trying to start to make some moves of, like, what else can I do? I'd interviewed for a player development position at Arizona State.

I'd started a little LLC on the side, All-American wide receiver training. I was trying to train some receivers on the side and stuff like that. That's side hustle piece. Yeah, so I was trying to just figure out my way. And to be honest with you, you know, again, it's who you know. I was a bachelor party in Arizona. It was coming off the 18th hole.

Just finished a glorious round with the boys. Yeah. And had a voicemail from Josh McDaniels who had just got hired as the head coach of the Denver Broncos. It was his second year. He'd been hired the full year. And I had a voicemail. And it just said, hey, have this scouting assistant position opening. I want you to come up and interview for it.

What year was this? This was 2009. Okay. So this is, all right. The year after you graduated. I graduated in 2009. Yes. But I was like 2008, the nine.

Yes, correct. And I didn't really even know what scouting was about, to be honest with you. Like, I mean, I've been a fan of the NFL, but you know, like when you're growing up, you don't really know that there's a scouting department and how it's all built on the other side. You see the players and you see the coaches. And I always wanted to coach. So I really didn't even know what it was about. But I was like, yeah, I'm about to go up and do this interview.

So initially, though, you're wanting to be in the coaching ranks. Yeah. And that's kind of how I was trying to make my way. You know what I mean? And that's when I went to the Arizona state thing is playing. development, I was trying to get into player development so then I could try to get into coaching. Yeah. You know what I mean? And get my foot in the door at a bigger school. And so, and so anyway, I go up in interview and again, he's the head coach. You know what I mean? But it was a,

painful interview. Like, it was like getting grilled for like six hours, had to write up all these reports. I didn't even know what the hell I was doing. But at the end of the day, I get the job. The job turns out to be taking guys to the airport, taking guys to go get physicals, making sure that the depth charts in the pro director's office was organized, making these point of attack tapes, which is like a strengths and weaknesses tape that we do on all the draft prospects. That's what I did. Yeah. And so anyway, that's how I got there. So it was, again, a long journey of always being involved in football and trying to find my way. and, you know, again, I was at coaching high school in Ohio. Then I coached high school for a couple years in Arizona. And then I left Arizona and I went to John Carroll and I G-A'd for two years.

And then I left being a GA for two years and I went to Iona. Then I left Iona and I moved back across the country and ended up at Chaparral and trying to figure out this path. And then this thing kind of got dropped on me. 18th hole. Probably a few deep too. Few deep. Yeah, for sure. Like, your buddy calls you.

Let me listen to this a couple of. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like you're not hearing it right. You want me to do what? Yeah. So how many times did you go through the interview process before we were like, was like two interviews? Like you get callbacks? It was two interviews.

Two interviews? Yeah. And then I got the call back and got the job. And then it was crazy though because that year, that was the year Josh got let go. He got let go like seven months into me being in the NFL for my first year. And then I stayed on for two more years in Denver with John Fox. Amazing dude. Yeah.

He never worked for John Fox. John Fox is one of the all-time grades. Like, just, he's awesome. And then, you know, went from there to New England, and, you know, now I'm here with the Raiders. What made you figure out that was the, like, area or the path you wanted to kind of stay in versus trying to get back in the coach,

trying to wiggle back into the coaching ranks? Yeah, the one thing was I started to kind of get down the path of scouting and having some success. Like I was in that role for a year, and then the next year they promoted me, and then the next year they promoted me. So I was like kind of making this climb up this ladder. You know what I mean?

And I had a couple opportunities to go back into coaching once I was in scouting for a couple years. But I felt like I was already kind of making progress and I didn't want to start back over. And then to start over in coaching, you know you have to be a quality control coach. I'm like, hell. The worst. That's the Arthur Smith route. Yeah.

That's a brutal deal. I'd already GAAed for two years. And I was like, no thanks. You're like the whipping boy. of the coaching staff. Yeah. No disrespect to the boys, but they know the grind that they're on.

You know the grind. Yeah, you know, yeah. Exactly. And the coaching side was even more volatile. Do you know what I mean? And like the cool thing about scouting is a little bit like when you get into it, you're a little bit of an independent contractor in the sense of like, okay, like you have this stuff that you have to do.

You have to evaluate all these prospects for the draft. But it's like the date is like, okay, you start in the fall and you have to have it all done by January 15th. So however you choose to get that done, it's your way of getting it done. Do you know what I mean? I mean, you have deadlines. You have to meet along the way. But like your day is kind of up to you where you know when you're coaching like you have meetings in the morning and then you have meetings before practice and then you're at practice. Then you have meetings after practice. Then you have another staff meeting at the end of the night. And it's like I don't know like just all that routine. I just kind of got attracted to the idea of like you were more in control your day. You're more in control of like the year. And, you're more in control of like the year. And a little less volatile than the coaching side because, you know, like the coach gets, you know, blown out, everybody goes. Right. Like every coach goes. Scouting's a little bit.

I mean, it's becoming more volatile, but there's a little bit more consistency to it. And so, yeah, that's why I end up staying with it. I kind of just got down that path and was kind of having some success. And I'm like, you know, I like this. I'm going to keep going with it. The obsession, the passion for football is got to be why you're, you were chasing it for so long, right? I mean, what a, like a road to end up getting here. Like you're working $7,000.

You're doing all these jobs. You're looking for opportunities. Literally, it sounded like every year. Like, well, let me try to go to Arizona State. And then maybe I can wiggle my way in here. I'm looking, I'll do whatever just to try to figure it out. Talk about that love for the game that you have. Yeah, it's funny.

It's like the one thing that I've always been good at, and again, on my level of being good. Like I wasn't 6-2 and, you know, 195 pounds, but I always, I always found like the most success in what came easiest to me was football. Like school wasn't like, I had to study to get good grades in football. I wasn't walking in and like getting an A on a test. Like if I didn't study, I was getting an F. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so like, hey, same. Yeah. Yeah. That's another story. That transcript was really right when it came through when it came to when it came on to my desk.

But yeah, it was just something like I always came like, again, I always came like, again, I always had success. It came easy to me to a degree and I just, um, just always loved it. Like when I grew up, like we were playing football in the backyard, like you were getting knocked around, bloody nose, losing teeth, guys would are losing teeth. Like that's like, I just grew up playing football and I grew up loving it and it always came easy to me. And it always was something like, I loved the physicality of the game. I loved, um, you know, I loved scoring touchdowns. I loved being like being with a team. Um, I just loved every part of it from like, I'm talking from eight years old all the way up. It was just the one thing that I always loved was always constant, you know, for me.

And so like, so this job is a dream, like truly a dream. You know what I mean? Like, one, I never thought I was a guidance counselor. I never thought I was going to be an NFL GM. Are you kidding me? Yeah, right? That's just like wild. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. And to be able to go in the office every day and like I'm watching film, you know, I'm dealing with football. I mean, and just in its most basic, I could go on and on, but it's most basic, it's like, it's not work. Do you know what I mean? Like, I'm doing something I've loved since I was eight years old every day. And I'm just so grateful and appreciative of being able to do it. Like, truly am, especially because of my path to get here. And so, yeah, just that's what it is.

Just true love, you know, for, from like, as soon as I could start playing, I fell in love with the game and it's been in love with it ever since. Do you feel like that hustle? in all of the different areas that's helped. That helps with the, you know, the, I guess, I was going to say experience, but you're a new NFL GM, but do you feel like all of that experience prior helps you become the GM that you are because you were driving guys from the airport, do other physical stuff, breaking down tapes, scouting reports, being a coach, doing all these different things.

You feel like a lot of that has, you know, has played into you being a GM. I'm not, I don't feel like I'm wording that are landing the plane. that well. Do you know what I'm saying? I kind of got the idea of where you're saying like all the experiences of like the unique route you've had to go on. I feel like he's sat in a lot of the seats. Yeah. To where he can understand perspective from a lot of the jobs that are below that are below you, you know, people that work for you. Yeah. And I think that and I think my experience of being a teacher and being a guidance counselor, not being in the NFL right away has given

me some perspective in terms of like, I'm true, like I said, I am truly grateful and appreciative to have the job that I have. And I try to carry that attitude into work every day and being consistent, treating people the right way, having a positive attitude, not making the moment too big and letting the job get too big and kind of overwhelming. And I think like my other experiences, like again, like being a guidance counselor, to be honest with you, and this was even at Chaperot, which was a, you know, a wealthy school. I mean, I dealt with kids that were dealing with, like, heavy issues, drug abuse, suicide, like, you know, like, and so, like, again, like, like these moments, this is still football. And so for me, like, all that has given me a perspective,

like some of my past experiences of like what my attitude and how I look at the job and how I handle the job because you can get overwhelmed. And there are a lot of stressful things that come across your play. There is a lot of work. There is a lot of pressure. And you could let it kind of like bury you. And I was, you know, again, I'll go on a tangent, but I was, always curious, I've always been curious to know, like, I've seen people become a head coach, and you guys have seen this too, a guy that was a position coach or a guy that you was in a different role, they'd become a head coach and they become a GM, that pressure can change you. Oh, absolutely. And I was always curious of how that was going to go for me, because I knew that

it could happen. And people were always like, you know, I was always like, well, I'm going to be this way if I ever get this job. But I also knew from seeing other people, I didn't really truly know if I was going to be able to be this way. When I say this way, just be consistent. Yeah. And you know what I mean? And that was the one thing that like, I think my life experiences have helped me

kind of have a little bit perspective on that. And like having the awareness you do too. Because the things, I've been in situations where a position coach was put in as an interim coach, a head coach. And just the interim tag, they completely change their attitude,

their mindset, how they handle themselves with other players. And it's like, who the fuck is this guy? Like I thought you were this man, now you're this guy. But with you, like, the awareness of being like, well, how am I going to handle if I have this level of success? And it's totally different.

Like, my experience with the Titans, I love John Robinson to death. I think he's a phenomenal guy. Like, he put a lot of trust in me. And I did my best to, like, support him in that situation. But he did a, he would keep very much business, like he would keep business relationships. He would not get very close to the players.

Like, you'd have good conversations. But it really wasn't like. that with you just sitting in here before like while we're setting up you're like basically hey this is fucking cool i'm a i'm a i'm a gm and like you're like you're like you're like you said you're kind of getting a taste of what fame is and like you're you seem to be handling it uh gracefully you seem to be handling it as if like you're not taking it for granted like you're really embracing the moment because you don't know how long it's going to be like this is a warning door of the nfl does that how does that play a factor for you when you're like okay

I'm the GM right now. Like we're on top, right? Three years ago, I was making proble. I was on top. You know what I'm saying? Well, yeah. Six and one. You're on top.

Yeah, yeah. I get to come in and throw a little joking. You're on top. You're on top. I mean, you don't make playoffs. But you know what I'm saying? You did it for a year. Yeah.

You know, that's cool. You on top part was before the season started. Everyone was asking me like, how's it going? You guys were saying, Willie was saying you guys are winning the AFC last. I'm like, oh, God. He said the chiefs will not make the playoffs this year. That was his. I'm like it's, I can swear, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I'm like, it's fucking great. I'm like, none of our, none of the trades stink. None of our draft picks have a word out. Oh, buddy, you guys were the office. You guys were the office. You guys were the office and Browns. Yeah, I'm like, I'm loving life.

Like, this is awesome. I kept telling, my wife kept telling Chris, like, just wait. Like, it's smooth now. Like, it's coming. Oh, you knew. You know what? Oh, I knew it was coming. Just because that's, that's, like, Twitter and everything.

Unless you go 17 and O. That's how it is. Do you know what I mean? And so, um. But again, like back to the question of like, of handling all that and the perspective of it is, I think for me, like, it could, you don't, it could end next year. You don't really know, like, how it all is going to go. Do you know what I mean? And so, like, for me, I just, I don't know. I'm just so, again, like, I always, I tell myself a lot, like, dude, you're the GM of the Raiders.

You know what I mean? Like, you were a guidance counselor, like, keep things in perspective. Do you know what I mean? Like keep it level and just enjoy the moment. And I try not, and I think because of that mindset, I don't let decisions, I don't have, I don't let decisions. My decisions aren't driven by like just trying to stay alive. Right.

Do you know what I mean? Like the fact that I got to this position and I have this job is like we talked about. It's kind of wild to think compared to where we were in 2008. So I don't let fear or like the fear of failure. The fear of failure or be. and fired like drive decisions. I'm just, we're going to just, we're going to swing. And we also have a vision of how we want to do things and we're just going to go. And I believe that it's going to work. Do you know what I mean? Obviously, that's what I'm going to do things the way that I do. I believe we're going to win here. I believe that we're going to build something that's going to be, uh, compete for championships and, um, you know, ultimately, um, you know, get us to where we want to go. And, and for the Raiders to be a team that's everybody looks at and says like, like the Green Bay Packers, and the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, like they're always kind of around.

Yeah. You know what I mean? They may have a down year here or there, but when you look at the longevity of those teams, and there's more that I can name besides those teams. Those are the ones that popped up in my head, Patriots, you know, being another one. Yeah. Like they're always kind of around.

And I believe we're going to get there doing it the way that we're going to, the way that we want to do it. But I'm not going to do anything and divert for that because I'm like scared of something. Or trying to like keep, keep, you know, keep your job. I'm going to buy two more years if we do this or that. Like, I just, that's not how I'm wired. I'm not going to go down like that.

What are some of those new challenges that you're learning of being a GM? Because like you said, you've witnessed some of the guys before you or that you've worked under and be like, you know, when I get to run it, I'm not going to necessarily do it like that. But ultimately, I don't know what I don't know. What are some of those things you're learning through your first year being a GM? Yeah, I think, though, like the one thing is like just prioritizing tasks. And I've said this before in other interviews. it's like real like the amount of things you can get distracted by that aren't football related

whether it's whether it's something that's going on with the fields or meals or um you know the player development wants to you know meet or you know um maybe it's an outside sponsorship thing that's going on like there's a lot of things that are going on outside and then it's just the scouting stuff too whether it's okay pro scouting versus college scouting versus watching guys on the practice squad versus there's all these, you know, guys that are on the street. You have to figure out like what's important now. Like what is really important now? What do you need to do now?

And just mastering that is tough. You can kind of like, sometimes you could go down a path and be like, wait a minute. Like I'm going down this hole, but like this other thing is actually more pressing. Yeah. I need to go. I should be doing that. And you've kind of learned like how to prioritize things. But that's a real challenge is just trying to figure out like what's important now.

because it all can feel important now. You know what I mean? Especially your first year on the job. So that's definitely a challenge. I would say that the other thing that's you kind of navigate and things like that is like giving everybody in the building the personal time that they need. Like you can easily feel like every all this all this shit's going on. You have to take care of all. You have all these different.

I have a list right now in my computer of the off season, 40 things that I need to get done. And as a leader, though, like, you also have to work to create personal relationships with people in the building, your other scouts. Like, I could easily close my door and not talk to anybody for months and just work. Do you know what I mean? But, like, you know, creating a relationship with the guys in the Strength and Conditioning Department or creating like the guys in the equipment room. Like everybody, you need to give everybody your time to a degree to build camaraderie, to build that culture where everybody's pulling in the right direction. You have to invest in personal relationships. You have to invest in other people's growth.

I have to take time and teach the younger scouts that are scouting assistants, some of the philosophies and the way that I want things done. And other people can teach them too, but it means more if I'm teaching them. And so finding time to build and invest all those other relationships, when it's not football oriented, it's just personal stuff. That's a huge challenge, is finding the time. time to do that. But it's one of the most important things at the same time. Take it back for a second to when you're with the Patriots. That is a well-oiled machine.

And it's a uniquely done machine too with Belichick really has free reign to do what everyone. He like wears a lot of hats in that building. When you get the call and you say, all right, you're going to become the GM of the Raiders and you walk away from a culture that is arguably one of the best cultures in the NFL. And you go here, like, what are the first things you do to check off like, this is how I want to set the foundation and this is what we need to work on. Like what did you see? It was like a something that the Raiders really needed to fix when you came into Vegas. Yeah. Because it's unique, right? It's like the first couple of years you're like they're in a new location. They have their, whether they're like they haven't really been in it like those other teams you said,

but they're the Raiders. Everyone knows who the Raiders are. You were talking about when you were a kid, like being a Raiders fan is cool. Even when they're not winning. Yeah. It's just cool to be a Raiders fan. Yes. So you're walking into not necessarily historically successful franchise, but you're walking to a franchise that everybody knows about and there's you're you're the top guy now yeah you're number one i would say two things i would say well one thing that was unique about the raiders is is and you were around a little bit there was a lot of turmoil that they had been through um a lot of you know a lot of especially last year yeah a lot of and and and last year and then and moving the team from Oakland there's just a lot of like kind of the last i don't know maybe like three or four years a

in one in a 10 year contract with gruden correct they were in very investing long term, like looking to build this thing. And it kind of, yeah, a lot of things kind of upended. And so I think there was a need organizationally for like to build, like to quickly build some stability. Do you know what I mean? And, and I think like, so there was this need for Josh and I, I think, specifically to work on creating a lot of relationships and like investing, again, going back to the relationship

piece, but investing personal time and getting to know people. And what we didn't do when we went in there is we didn't go in there and drop a bomb and fire everybody. Because that does happen, right? A new coach and a new GM comes out. They just wipe out everybody. We tried to really take the time and get to know a lot of the people that had been there because a lot of the people, as you know, had been there. Not just like four or five years. There's people that have been there 15, 20 years.

And so we went in there and got to know a lot of the people. And what we figured out is there was a lot of good people there. And so we invested and kept a lot of those people. And so I think the one thing was just there was, we had to, the best way to say it is like we had to earn their trust and respect as much as they needed to earn ours. But I think that was needed because of all like kind of the upheaval and things like that. And so trying to build some consistency with relationships was one.

On the scouting side, I would say from the Patriots. And again, this isn't a knock. Everybody has different ways that they do things. The thing of the Patriots from a scouting is it's super detailed. No stone left and turned, character, background research, understanding the role for the player. Like when I say we're going to bring in Will Compton, it's not just like, okay, we're going to bring in Will Compton to play linebacker.

It's like, we're going to bring in Will Compton. He's going to get to the game on fourth down. He's going to be a three to four phase player in the kicking game. So we're going to be there every week. He's going to be the fifth linebacker. As the fifth linebacker, he's going to be a first and second down guy. he's not going to play in sub like that kind of communication and that specific like being that specific and detailed was something new for for it would be new for a lot of places but it was new for our scouting

department our talking our language the the like again the specificity of the role and then the detail of what we want in terms of background research and character because for us like the culture fit like it's the yeah the skill set is this but how do they fit culturally what are they going to bring to the room in terms of football and television? What are they going to bring to the room in terms of like, again, like the personal and social aspect? How are they going to fit in the room and how is their room going to react to them? Like those are all conversations we have and we're going to add just one player. And so I think that was a little bit different from what they have done in the past.

And so those were two things. I mean, I could go on and on. But those were two things that I think were needed and that we kind of, one that were needed and that I took from New England and brought here. It seems like you know a lot about Wilcompton. What's the scouting report on Wilcompton? Yeah, what happened? Hey, that's funny, too, you brought that up.

And we met in Tennessee, you were like, hey, last week I was actually thinking about the potential of bringing you in. Yeah, what's the deal? Why couldn't we get playoff? Yeah. Why can we get play on? What's going on? Yeah.

You guys were to want at least three more games. It was cool. He sees me out. He's like, yeah, I'm Dave Zilger. I'm the GM with the Raiders. I'm just thinking like, this is Taylor's guidance counselor from hindsight. Yeah. You know, nice to meet you.

And we said all that stuff and joked a little bit. You know, I'm like, hey, you're 10. I started doing a punt set in front of him. I'm like, I can get you, yeah, I can get you a trial right now. What do you want to see? And we're laughing. That's hilarious. The scouting report on Will, lunch pale guy.

Yeah, but hold on. Let me throw it. I got some, I got some adjectives. You were with the Patriots in 2000. When did you come out? 2013. 2013. That was my first year.

Okay. Do you remember Wilcompton in 2013? I don't. That's okay. I don't. He was undraft. No, yeah, that's okay. And I wasn't on the college scouting side either.

I was a pro scout at the time. Sean McVeigh would have remembered. Sean McGa. Yeah, she would definitely want to remember. He has a much better memory. So let's go Will Compton when there was more trend on the tires. Let's say four years ago.

Yep. Hard-nosed. Instinctive in terms of reading blocking patterns. Like, you know, the pooler goes, Will's gone. He's off the spot and he's coming downhill. Undersized, but we'll take... Yep.

That's true. Limited athletically. Undersized. But what we always look forward, does he have a willingness to take on? Like Will wasn't scared to go down and put his face mask on somebody, you know? Not the longest guy in terms of arm length here.

We're not talking about 34-inch arms. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. We saw myself with the arm. You know, so there was, you know, physicality, but there was a tendency to get caught up on some blocks. Yeah.

You know, so he had to win with his instincts, being able to read kind of the play, read the formation, get off the spot quick. Short area quickness was not bad with this guy now in a short space. I'm not talking about going, but he had some short area quickness and explosiveness to beat blockers to the point, get downhill, good rap tackler, get guys to the ground. You want him on on first and second down. Didn't really see a big role on third down in terms of getting in space and really covering.

He'd use his instincts and zone to be able to get in the windows and squeeze on guys and take guys out of the play. So that was kind of the passing side of him. the kicking game. Hell on wheels. Hell on wheels, brother. Hell on wheels. Hey, buddy.

Instinctive. Flow back on the kickoff game. Heart, you know, but the college character, it's all the adjectives, lunch pale guy. Yeah. You know, you're going to love them in the room. Yeah. You know, strength, strength staff loves this guy.

Date your daughter type. Oh, I don't know about that one. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you what they said. You know, he's going to be, he's going to be every coach's dream. Going to work hard, give you everything you got, you know, bring guys along with them. So he had all the intangibles too. Back to this year, there was a threshold.

It's playoff Willie. You know what I mean? So you don't want to squeeze the juice too early. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right. We, you did say what our record was. Do you know what I mean?

And so we were kind of always fighting uphill. We started off O'N3. And so we were kind of, then we won three or four in a row. and so like the Willie meter started going a little bit, you know? But then we lost a couple close ones, and it was less like, if I'm going to bring, we're going to bring playoff Willie in, it's got to be, you're bringing them in to punch it home. Right. To take it over.

Is that, is that legit? That's how I feel. When you were, when you were, when you were, when you were the boss, I'm just saying when we were in Tennessee and you were like, hey, last week I was thinking about, is, is that legit? You're like taking into account where we could be at. 100%. With you in particular. I appreciate that. Yeah.

particular. The haters are sick. I know. The haters really are sick. Everything, the narrative you've written for yourself, via the bird, just come to fruition like that. Yeah, I appreciated his breakdown too

just because, like, he said some of the things that, like, you know, you don't know necessarily, like when he says rap tackler, like, not a thumper. He talks about the short area of stuff. He talked about the third down stuff, and I feel like that is all there. He nailed you. Yeah, I feel like he nailed you.

He knows me better than I know myself. Appreciate it. Hey, Raider Nation should be happy. If you can break down really. Hold on. I wanted to make, you guys were legit, was there a legit, there was a legit consideration to bring him in? 100%. And because of like his, just talking to guys like Max and guys that were with him the year before. And again, this is just what they said.

Like he, he brings a level of excitement, a level of juice, a level of energy to practice, lightheartedness, you know, and I think guys appreciate that. You know what I mean? And so, and he's consistent with it from what they said. And so, yeah, to bring somebody that's going to bring positive energy that's going to take on any role that you're willing to give them, that's going to bust their ass at practice, that's going to bring good vibes. Like, good vibes.

Good vibes. Yeah, that fire be on that. Literally, uh, that was it. I know, I'm like sitting here. You know, I'm like, you're smiling. Like, your cheek's probably heard a little bit from smiling. Yeah. Give me, um, let's turn the page.

What I did want to, well. Let's turn the page to the negative category. I want to hear the bad. I want to hear the bad about Wilcompton. or your negative shots. Well, the bad would be first and second down only, not going to really have a roll on third down because the coverage stuff isn't good enough.

Doesn't have enough speed to match and man and run with tight, run with Darren Waller, down the seam and things of that nature. I liked them up every name practice, but go ahead. I did mention the arm length. It's, you know, so there's going to be a tendency to get caught on some blocks, big, long, physical offensive lineman. Like, you know, he's going to have to come down and hit you with his face or beat you with quickness.

And so there's going to be times where he just gets locked up because he doesn't have that arm length. Really, that's about it. Yeah. That's not bad. I know, like, when I think it was 16 or 17, when Zach Brown had came in

and then I got demoted to, like, the number three guy, when Kirk Alvadai sat down with me, it was more of like when decided between, like, myself and Mason Foster, it was more of like Mason could get out of the consensus in the scouting department. Mason could get out of more bad situations that I could. I usually had to be right the majority of the time to make all the plays I needed to make.

In my head, I'm thinking, well, I am, I'm going to be right the majority of time. But that's usually like the consensus is he's got to, you know, guess right, I guess the majority of time. Because it's hard to get out of bad situation because of all the limited, all the limited ceiling stuff that is placed on the player. Yeah. White, white, white, white, yeah, you mean white shoulder arms. That is tough. Rayba always let me know I had short arms. Will, we're not putting you on punt return.

Like, you're not going to be able to get your arms on guys. Now, your arms aren't exceptionally long. Yeah. Here we go. Exceptionally long. And I felt those long arms a couple weeks ago. No, but you caught hands. And I stopped.

You try to beat up a guy that post-ACL. Even when you had those long arms. See, I had to, like, defeat. I had to, like, defeat hands just to try to get inside. I know. And I had you. Exceptional athlete, though. And I will say this.

I will say this about Taylor Luan is. Here we go. He came to Chaparillo's senior year. Now, this guy was playing nose tackle at Cactus Shadows. I don't even know if they put him on the offensive line at the time. Side note, yeah, my sophomore year, I was moved up to varsity. That's a big deal. And they put me at left tackle.

Trace Stevens got three sacks in a row on me. I couldn't get out of my stance. I didn't know. They put him back at nose tackle. Bullrush. But when we brought Taylor in and we moved him to left tackle, we actually had an NFL coach, Rod Hemanek, who had retired out.

in Scottsdale, he used to coach for the New England Patriots. He happens just to be coaching O-Line at Chaparrow when Taylor comes in. So never played O'Line. He comes in, he has an NFL coach. But I would say he came in in the spring. By the time we got to October, one we knew he was going to be a major division one guy because in the spring we had a guy named Craig Rowe

who had about 23 Division 1 offers. Yeah, he was already like Under Armour All-American. Yeah, he's essentially crazy reason why I transferred because I knew all these coaches were going to come in and my dad made me transfer like the coaches are going to see you and think big frame we can do something with it and they did.

They coaches came in and this guy had like 20 offers before but when we got to October, this is no, I've never told you this. Me and Charlie Regal who's now at Arizona State so this guy's going to play in the NFL. Nice. What's Taylor's Scouting report? Well, I mean this guy's a first round pick so there's a lot of...

Say Taylor, yeah, yeah, he's... Let's do Taylor three years ago. Well, let's do Taylor like... Like if Taylor was a free agent and he was, you were doing a, there was a scouting report on Taylor right now at 30 years old, 31 years old. He's 275 pounds. No, I'm talking like, you're a player. I'll just say Taylor's, I'll get the question.

I'm asking the question. Taylor's overall scouting report, to be honest with you, it stayed pretty consistent since the time that he's been in the league. Now, when he first got in, his technique wasn't very good. And so he improved a lot from a technical standpoint. But Taylor, exceptional athlete for his size. I mean, this guy is an ex. I know we don't want to blow up his head too big.

I need this. It's been a rough year. We've been very rare guys who can play on space. Rare athlete for his size. And so like all like the ability to like the lateral agility, the speed to kick and get to the, I'm using scouting terms now, but to get to the junction point.

To junction point is where the tackle and that, you know, that line of demarcation where he either can turn the corner and get to the quarterback or the tackle wins to that point. Like he had tremendous. to speed, you know, in his kick, the ability to redirect laterally. Like, you know, the guy comes, the guy presses your outside shoulder. He tries to beat you across his face. The ability to react and slide and stay in front.

Unique. Ability to play in the screen game, pull, run, get to the second level because of how athletic he was was unique. And I think the thing that Taylor did is a left tackle, that not a lot of left tackles is the nastiness that he played with. Because you, like, back in the day when I came up, up like the run blockers all played right tackle and then like the vinesse kind of softer guys played left tackle but taylor really like as a run blocker even though he wasn't the most

powerful guy like he was trying to like demolish people and so he brought that like that physical kind of right tackle mentality as a run blocker he brought it to left tackle and I think that's what a lot of people were attracted by he has this like tenacity and this nastiness but he's this athletic kind of finished beyond the whistle you know pretty guy um and terms of his skill set. And so that was all unique. And that was all what made him a first round draft pick. And he had all that in high school too. I mean, in practice, this guy was an asshole. He'd be blocking, you know, little Timmy over, you know, 40 yards the opposite way. And, you know, and like, burying guys on the track. And like, even in games, I mean, he would drive it. We would,

we would be ripping his butt on the sideline because it was like the fourth 15-yard penalty because our running back broke it for 70 yards, and he's driving the guy the other way. Dwayne Garrett. 30 yards, Duane Garrett. Yeah. And so that's all the positive. I'd say the negative had always probably been a little bit,

like if you were going to win, it was being able to get underneath his pads and drive him into the pocket with power. Like to be able to sit and anchor, I would say was probably the more inconsistent part of his game, especially early on. I think he got strong. stronger and he could always bend and sink,

but it was the strength that I think developed from like your beginning of your career to like that middle and end of your career, you were able to improve, you know, with your anchor. And then I would say from the counseling piece, going to get psychological. Where you kind of know him a little differently, yeah. Yeah, like he can get into his own head a little bit.

And so I think like the like, we talked about like Chandler Jones. You're free to, you're, this is a free space to speak. Yeah, I want to hear, I actually want to hear this.

Yeah, so I think like Taylor can do some negative self-talk and kind of get him in a space where like, he's not positive with himself. And so like things could snowball a little bit. And, and, um,

one bad play could turn into two bad plays. And I think like, um, I think you've always had a little bit of that. Um, and, and so I think that was like, like, again, I don't know.

I haven't been around him for a lot, for a lot of years, but I think, like, that was one thing that he's anchor and then just not letting a bad series or a bad play snowball, because I know he's on the sideline telling himself, like, not good things about himself. I'll tell you what, he's pretty spot on. He's an expert.

You are an expert. I think the thing that the negative self-talk thing is definitely something you all, like, that's like a real bad negative. Because the whole name of the game, especially when you're a young player is, hey, move on. Like short memory, short memory.

Short memory. And you would, it was usually somebody else messed up. You'd like, man, short memory, don't worry about it. But if I had a bad practice, I would not sleep the next day that night because I'm thinking, fuck, I had a bad practice. But if this happens, but if that happens, that's pretty spot on. Yeah. And injury.

Yep. That's also, I mean, you can't have two ACLs in three years. No. It's a bad deal. That's a bad deal. Yeah. That's a bad deal. But like that same thing that drives you, that that negative self-talk is a double-edged

sword because it also is what drives you to be successful. Yeah, there is, you know what I mean? It allows you to tell yourself whatever story you need to hear to regain a chip on your shoulder. Correct. Yeah. So, um, so yeah, that's my scouting report on him. I think this is, I think this is sick.

I feel like every, I'm, I'm actually truly enjoying myself. Yeah, like, I feel like a lot of guys are sitting at the cafeteria and like whether decisions get made or not. And you talk about free agents coming in, draftics having blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, I'm a guy every year who would sit and watch the draft differently than I have expressed to you what's like for me watching. draft you're like hoping you guys don't get a fucking linebacker that's going to be in the top

three rounds or something like that where it's like I sit in my head of my man I wonder what my fucking report is up there you know what I mean and we're literally getting to hear it from a GM we're getting to sit with the GM and kind of like learn like hey what was on the fucking cheats what we'd get talked about you know it would be a cool segment to do would get um like when we have NFL players on like have Zig and his personnel send us the scattering port of that guy and have him read his own scattering report because I I saw a scattering report of my own from like an Eagles GM like a while back that CAA sent me and it was like basically what you said from a pros and con standpoint but the there was one category was like personality and it was

like quirky unique has a two has a two-seater bike that he drives by himself like it was a bunch of random like funny shit the mustache tattoo yeah the mustache tattoo the right hand man like a whole bunch of stuff like I just thought like man this would be so fucking funny if we got to sit with like max crosbie like here's your scattering report yeah like he's white white guy with black guy tattoos uh you get the fade bro he does that's not a racist thing like white dudes keltic cross in the shoulder uh family crest tribal tribal all that is is a standard textbook white guy tattoo yeah initials in the back of the arm black guy tattoo very much so yeah there's nothing prayer hands that's just what you watch yes prayer hands lying on the chest yeah like those are

all like what you see in the locker room but you just play that you know what I think it'd be hilarious to see a dude's scattering in Denver and New England when we would hire guys that played in the league or had been like prospects in the league before we hired them their scouting reports

we'd just take them off because some of them were rejects like not good enough to play in the league too slow you don't want to have a guy coming in every day in his morale he's going on and looking at a scouting report every day no doubt how bad you thought

yeah yeah were you with Darren Moji at all in Denver? I was and and I got this is funny about Darren. So Darren's the assistant GM in Denver now. Yeah. Darren also is Chaparrow grad. He played a wide receiver. He was a Chaparral grad.

He was on our coaching staff at Chaparral too. What was the last there? Moji. Rob Moji's brother. Oh, okay. He'd think of Rob Mugi's but probably a little more handsome. A little dime piece? I was Rob's guidance counselor too.

Yeah. I want to get into that a little bit. Rob's a good time. So Darren, I actually got Darren, his recommended Darren for his first interview in Denver. So he came there when we got there. The year before, Darren was in the league still playing for the Cardinals.

And I had my preseason report and I rejected him. Oh, really? Yeah, not good enough to play in the league. Oh, no. Did you tell him that ever? I think he knew. Yeah, he eventually found that out.

I tried to keep it on the download, you know, for a little while. Yeah, you got to hide that for a second. Not personal. Not personal. No, just that's what it is. So, yeah, so he's an example of a guy that was I rejected them for the league in terms of player, but recommended them for a job in scouting.

So I knew there was some talent there. Can you talk about balancing the business and personal? Like, because you're, you know, you're in a business where it's performance-based, literally every day you're graded, you're all of that stuff. You have to do business as businesses. But also you're in a business where you have to, you were speaking to having the personal relationships,

building those. Talk about balancing those two as a GM. Yeah, it's hard because the personal, in the business, it's really, it is intertwined. You know, because I can tell someone, hey, like we were talking about, I can tell someone when we're going to release them, hey, I mean, this is business. Because for me it is, but it's personal for them because I just told them, one, that they're fired. Two, they've got to go home and tell their family that they've been let go.

They've got to think about where they're going to move, what are they going to do with their kids. Their kids are in school? Are we pulling them out now? And so it becomes very personal. And so it is difficult. it is difficult and I do like feel there's um you know when you're part of a team and and I do feel like I do want to create personal relationships with the players because we're all in the same team you know we're asking a lot of them um too and I think it's important for them to feel like that because I am

I'm invested in their success I want to see them succeed and and so I want to create a personal relationship because of that and and so um but you know, the scouting side of things like you said about like looking at the draft, like I'm trying to find the next whoever else, right? Ultimately, I'm trying to find guys that are going to, you know, replace Will Compton. Right. It's not like you're wanting to replace me because you dislike me. You're trying to, that's the name. You're trying to get better.

Trying to get better. You know what I mean? And so there's that, so there's a direct conflict there. Right. And so what I try to do is just be really up front and honest with players whenever I deal with them. Give them positive feedback. Give them critical feedback. If that's what, you know, if they're telling me, hey, what do you think?

I'm going to tell them what I think on the positive side and the business side. And I think so because I'm going to give you positive feedback and critical feedback, I don't ever try to sugarcoat it where it's all positive, all positive, all positive. Then you're sitting down, I'm releasing you. You know what I mean? And so I just try to keep it as honest and up front. And again, invest in the personal side, be positive, treat you like I would treat anybody else. But also there's like that side of it where it is like, again, like there's that critical piece. Hey, you need to get better at A, B, and C. We need to see you get better at A, B, and C. If you can't get better at A, B, and C, I'm looking for somebody else. And I just think like I try to just be up front about that's the deal. That's what I'm trying to do. Do you know what I mean?

And that's the best I can do. You know, to try to keep it up front and honest and keep the relationship, I guess, as pure as it can be, understanding that like I'm trying to, my job is to find someone that's ultimately better than you. And your job is to prove to me that you're better than everybody else. Like Edelman, when we were in New England, Julian would always be. he's fined me like sometime in March, you know, before the draft and just let me know, like, hey, just so you know, you're like, you're not finding in anybody that's going to be fucking

better than me. And he'd come up and look me in the face and say that just so you know, you're not finding anybody better than that. And your relationship was obviously good with him. Great with him. And it's still great with him. He's probably one of the people that I'm closest with that has been a player in the league that's not a player in the league anymore. But like, he had that attitude. He understood what my job was, but he's like, I'm not, I'm going to make it very difficult on you. Right. And I'm going to do everything in my power so you don't find somebody that's better than me. But that's the job. You know, that's the business. And it's, you know, it's brutal in that way. Would have been a couple of your harder situations.

Whereas, whether it's been cutting a player, trading a player, you know, where it's like, you know, if you were going to trade me, are you, or not going to trade me, but looking to trade me, are you, you're probably not seeking to tell me like, hey, we're looking to trade you. But how, how have you navigated? Would have been a couple of your harder situations without naming players. Unless you did want to name them. I'll name one.

It's kind of for us. The first player that I was ever asked to release in Denver was Stokely, wide receiver. Oh, really? Yeah, and he was like, he'd always been kind of a fixture. He was with the Colts, and then he was Denver, and like, he was kind of, he was the man.

You know what I mean? Like, he was a fixture with the Broncos, and really well liked and things like that. And when he came to Denver, he was towards the end of his career. But I knew him as a fan. You know what I mean? Like, again, I didn't get in the NFL. My first year in the NFL as a scouting assistant was like I was 32.

I was like Billy Madison. I was like everybody else was like 24 and 23 years old. I'm the old guy as a scouting assistant. But having to do that is someone that I like had watched as a fan and saw his career. And he's like, you know, scrappy slot receiver that made like, like made a career in the NFL and to have to go do that that was really hard because I was the first time I had to do it and it was a guy that I admired and looked up to his career and it was like you know you just you it you felt it you know what I mean and so that was that was a difficult

one to do and you know the stuff with the trade stuff is always always difficult because you get to the trade deadline there's all these there's guys on the team and their names out on the trade block and things like that and I've had players come to me and you know ask me hey, what's the deal? Right. Yeah. Like I've been seeing, unfortunately, not from anybody in the building,

but on probably social media, that could be on the trade block or my agent. Yeah, and so those are awkward situations. And like you said, there's a balance there too. Because, like, how is someone going to respond if you say, yeah, I'm going to try,

yeah, I'm trying to trade you. Yeah. You know? It can go one of two ways. It can go one or two ways. And they're dramatic different ways. Yeah. What if you don't get it done?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so those are, those ones are tough to navigate because I don't ever want to lie to somebody and be dishonest, you know. And at the same time, you don't want to, you know, you don't want to say something that's going to, you know, bring some like negative wedge in between you and the player too. So those are always ones that are hard to navigate. and, you know, I just, again, I don't want to be specific,

but in certain instances I've said, like, you know, like, hey, like, if someone, you know, this is a business, and if someone comes and offers something that I think is going to help the football team, you know, I have to make a decision. You know what I mean? And, like, that's, like, the easiest way I can say it. Because there really is no easy way around that conversation. Like, I mean, you guys are players.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no easy way on that conversation. Did you ever think someone was going to trade you? I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think. I've never felt that either. Because I just feel like when you're in it, unless you're just not playing well,

I guess and maybe you're thinking about that. I just feel like you're just in it. You're in the season. You're like in season mode. You're not necessarily. Now if you're playing well and you end up getting traded, I just feel like that would be a massive shock that you just wouldn't see coming.

Right. I feel like the offense alignment don't aren't big trade items either. Are they? not typically no I think a lot of you usually see skill players yeah yeah like like Christian McCaffrey like who knows if he was being told that he was getting traded you know what I mean

I just I have no clue and it'd be I'm sure he'll come on one day right but I have a question yeah go ahead how how consider how seriously considered was coach Passaccia in the head coaching job when you came in as the GM

yeah so there's a lot He was a big-time player favorite. He was a big-time player favorite. I would put my reputation on the line for him type of guy. And so, yeah, how consider it was he for the head coaching job? Versus like, okay, they fired Mayock. Who knows what they're going to do with the head coach? Passachi is still in it.

Dave Ziegler comes in. His guys are people kind of know and connect the dots early, but how much of a shot did he actually get? Yeah, that's a good question. To be honest with you, I wasn't in. like the way that they did this specific hiring here with the Raiders was a little bit differently. They were interviewing head coaches and GMs kind of at the same time. And so they didn't hire me before they were interviewing head coaches while they were interviewing GM.

So for example, some places the GM gets hired and then he's conducting all the head coaching interviews. This situation was a little bit different. I got hired. Me and Josh got hired at the same time. And so it just happens to be your boy. Yeah. And so. They're not hiring you.

You do fine. Like, yeah, too. In this specific situation, that's not what their, whatever their blueprint is and whatever, you know, and everywhere is different. Some places the head coach is hired first and then the GM's hired second. Some places the GMs hired first and then the head coach is second. This one was kind of simultaneously. Gotcha.

Got you. So can't speak to it other than I know like his reputation. you know, as just being a great guy, you know, precedes itself. Yeah, yeah. Everyone I've spoken to you, I mean, you sing his praises all the time. But even people that weren't on the Raiders, they loved him. Oh, yeah, loved him. Who's at the Packers?

Yeah, because, yeah. Special teams coach of the Packers this year. Yeah, the coordinator, because LaFlor had called asking about it. I'm like, brother. That's a real deal. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, he's a real deal. If you have the opportunity to get him, if he's, because that was when he was, everything was getting considered to that time.

But yeah, he's all time. I have a personal question for you. Yep. My senior year of high school, yep. I had a 35% in my Spanish class. Yep. And I told you I was not going to go take the final.

I'm going to have to go work construction. And you were like, just go take the test. And I took the test and I put C for every single answer. And I got a 75 in the class. How did that happen? These are old jobs. Remember, this is a long time ago. I don't remember how it all went down.

I do remember, I'll digress a little bit. I do remember when you came into Chaparral and first seeing that transcript that was put across my desk. 1.6 GPA. And it was just brutal. You want to talk about, just beat up. I mean, like, I wondered if he actually went to school

for the first two years because there was just littered with Fs. Dude, it was so bad. It was basically Taylor-Luan your assignment as he comes up. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Actually, I don't want to turn this into like a podcast about me,

but I do want to learn more about my childhood with you. I don't want to know all that stuff. Well, one, I was kind of designated as the counselor. I'd come from a background of football, so I was kind of like the athletic counselor in terms of helping everybody navigate the NCAA clearinghouse, getting eligible, all those different types of things. So his GPA was atrocious when he came.

And we started to know in the spring, when these coaches started coming around, like, all right, this dude's going to be a major D1 prospect. I mean, I think by the end of the spring, you probably had like 15 offers before, like, the fall really even started, I think. No, I had three offers, Utah, State, Minnesota, and ASU. Going into the season, then I put those first two game films out.

Okay, and then it was quick. Like, it was Miami. It was everybody, you know, very quickly. It was awesome. And so I knew at that point by looking at the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, of the transcript that we had a lot of work to do. I don't know how much you remember,

how much you blocked out, but there was a lot of work you had to do personally that you hadn't done before. I remember some stressful times in my office where this guy was in full meltdown mode as a 17, 18-year-old kid, like, you know, there was a lot of hurdles that he was going to have to overcome and a lot of work that he had to do.

At one point I actually had a, we had a, had hired a tutor to tutor to help them. I was actually paying the tutor $20 a week to help you. Oh, really? Yeah. Out of my own pocket to get you to get you going and not to do the work. How much does he owe you?

Geez. I mean, I'd have to look at all the... I've been up this weekend. I'd have to look at the last contract and the totality. I was going to say year over year growth of where his career's been. It's got to be like we're talking six figures for sure. Oh. Yeah, we're talking about six figures for sure.

Yeah, who was the economics teacher, Dr. A, Mr. A sit bag, no, buddy. Because I did. No,

because I got him on his feet on 16 years. That triggered something because who is doctor, not doctor, Mr. Cervantes. Okay.

He was the economics teacher. And he would go, he was a unique teacher. Like he would go and, like meander in the hallways, like 10 minutes after class started. Like the whole class was sitting,

hanging out and waiting for him. And the final, it was economics class. The final he left on his desk. And I took, the picture of it and I sent it to everybody in the class. So everybody in the class got 100% on the class, except for Derek Zubiga

because the last question was who's better, Kobe or LeBron. And the answer's LeBron. And he was a major Kobe fan. So Derek's, I got 98% on the test or whatever. And I'm on the bus going to graduation. And Servantes is like,

the seat in front of me goes, hey, I know what you did. I was like, what are you talking about? He was like, I know there's a reason why everyone got an A in the class. Like, just go and cut me a check when you get to the NFL. And I was like, you got it, Bub. There you go. Did you cut him the check?

Nope. I need to. I need to. I need to give yourself. I feel like I have a feeling there's a lot of people that came from that class. There was a lot of helpers. A lot of helpers that people, people that see your success now are like, man, had I not done this or X, Y, Z. No, but you know what, but the thing that he did that is, is true, and this is a compliment.

But he was, he always treated people really well. whether it was teachers, coaches, students, so on and so forth. Like, this guy didn't have any, like, not that I know of, like, any enemies or anything like that. And so people were looking to help him out. Do you know what I mean? Or, like, give him an extra boost. And he did a lot. He had to do a lot of work on his own.

He did. He had to do a lot of work because then he took the ACT, which wasn't atrocious. No, I bawled. Yeah. And it was actually surprising whatever he got. I mean, I was like, I looked at it. Had it looked at like three times. Hang on that.

I got a 29 of a C. and he ended up clearing for the NSA clearing house and he got to Michigan. Dude, that was the coolest. I literally tell that story about that, like the Spanish thing all of the time because literally you had me my senior year, like most kids in their senior year

do have half schedules. And they're getting out of like 1245. You had like he actually had like nine classes. Yeah, I had a full class schedule. And there's only seven periods of the day. I had to do online school as well. I had to do another full year of online school in a semester. So I would like do.

I remember when we were staying at the Arnold's, how they were talking to me about all the homework you would have to do. Yeah. Still hasn't beside me, dude. Yeah. It was like, dude, that was a wild time. Yeah. A lot of adversity in those times.

A lot of adversity. Here we are. Here we are, dude. That's so, I think it is the coolest thing ever. So what did you do with that Spanish teacher? I don't remember the exact details of it other than, you know, talked about your hard work, your perseverance. your future

and there you go you were the fucking man dude I actually owe you my career I wouldn't have got to the NFL if it wasn't for you doing that you would have started out out as an ad juco

and who knows what would happen from there yeah we can't predict that yeah because I did get off the rails a little bit in college and so we've had some fun conversations

just with one of his old college teammates that's in town yeah I did you I went to admission Michigan, I went, I went college mode for a little bit. Got it. And I think if I would have gone to Juko,

I probably wouldn't have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Like the minute I got. Because there's so much less structure, too, in the football department at a Juko. Yeah. If you go off the rails, people are like necessarily trying to correct. Right.

Yeah, I could have got like to either sink or swim at Juko. Yeah. Yeah. When you're evaluating players, like how much, obviously to an extent, it's a big deal, but how much do character issues play a role? Um, they play a role. I think like it, it depends on how big the character issues are and what the pattern of character issues are.

And how talented they are. And how talented they are. Yeah. And I think, no doubt it's a sliding scale. Um, you know, I think that when you look at the personal traits and their personal traits that would affect your ability to be good, like laziness, um, not accountable. immature, doesn't like to work, doesn't like to practice hard. You know, like those types of things, like those to me are major red flags. The guys that maybe have some immaturity stuff, whatever it may be, but like you look at

the football traits, they love to compete. They love to go against the best players in practice. They, you know, they love, you know, on Saturdays, they're always, you know, dialed in, showing up, like that, like the football traits. think like if you have really good football traits and some of your personal traits you need to work on, I think that's a little bit more manageable. Those are still calculated risks too. But I think there's a higher, there's a higher degree of being profitable on someone that loves to compete, has some dog into them, like, you know, those types of people, but they're immature. And I think you have to look at like,

what was that person's environment, how were they raised, where were they raised, who were their role models? You have to take those things to account because you can't just penalize someone that never had any structure for them to be successful. Do you know what I mean? Or build those other characteristics. The guys that I think you worry about more are the guys that have all the talent, but those football traits are low. Like, that's where you get burned. And so I think it's one of it's, I can't actually understate how important it is. You're making million dollar investments, you know, in their young kids at the time. And so like if you're going to take a chance on someone that has like traits that are questionable.

And like, you know, you got to pay the, you got to pay the Piper if they don't work out. But that's why I think the football traits are really important. And then you got to, you know, you got to kind of do the risk reward on the other side of things. When it comes to like your philosophy, are there like core questions or fundamental questions you ask yourself when making these, when making decisions on a player? I know it can vary situation to situation, but you're kind of going through it there. And it kind of just sparked like, do you have, like, core foundational questions when making a decision, whether it's big or small? Are you talking about, like, when I'm actually, like, interviewing a player? I guess, like, making a transaction with a player.

Something that you, that's just, like, a core foundation of what your philosophy is. Yeah. Things that you, like, just default to, like, all right, let me get, this is getting, there's a lot of conversation going on. Like, what, like, let me get back to what I want to just sit and ask myself about this guy. Yeah, I probably won't get like super specific to that question. But like one thing for me that I look at is I like to see I'm intrigued or I find value in people that have had to go through a lot of transitions in life. So whether it's and again, it doesn't have to be major stuff. Whether it could be I went to three or four different high schools or, you know, in college I played with three different coordinators and had four different position coaches.

or maybe major stuff. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I was homeless. I, you know, had to overcome these personal situations in my life just to get here. Like, I just like to see people in some form or fashion, whether it's like the extreme end of the scale or whether it's something like just football related

that have had to go through transitions and have had to deal with like little, whether it's little or major like aspects of adversity. Because I think when you get to the league and you guys know, like the amount of it's, life transitions and just you go through from being a college player to an NFL player is there, there's hundreds. Do you know what I mean of things that you go through?

And I think. And it's all new too. And it's all new. And if you've never went through anything and it's been all smooth sailing for you and you get into the league, those scare me more. And it's not that I wouldn't select a player that's never had anything like that. Right. But like I want to know like what of you, what are, what are those different situations that you've

had to deal with. Do you know what I mean? What life transitions have you went through? Have you experienced life? Do you know what I mean? And so like those are, that's something that's important to me. I love that. When you're like going off that, when you're at the combine, what to you is more important? Those interviews or the actual tests, like the physical test? Because the physical test, I've heard somebody are like, this is just checking boxes. Solid question. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Like check boxes, but then you get those 15, 20 minutes. It was the train station. or in those officials to kind of like really digest who the person really is. Yep.

And I would say like the physical stuff, like the testing and all that stuff and the times and whatnot, like that is important because it's a piece of the puzzle that like it's one of the pieces of the puzzle that you're putting together when you kind of get to the end. But the real value is those interviews. The real value is being able to, and again, it's not a lot of time, but it's being able to sit down for 15 minutes or 20 minutes and be in a room and one, see how they're going to react to being in the room. You learn a lot in 15 minutes at the same time.

You learn about how, you know, someone carries themselves, how they, how serious they take the situation, how they communicate their body language. And when, for specifically for me, like if you're coming into the room, I already know, I already know a lot about you. I should say, I already know what a lot of people have said about you, right? I went to Michigan. I've talked to all the people at Michigan.

I kind of have a profile on who Taylor Luan is before you even walk in the room. So there are certain things that I'm going to want to get to know about you to compare and contrast what people say, good or bad. And it's not all bad. It could be you come in with not a flaw in the world. No one will say anything.

bad about you. Right. Okay, well, let me let me kind of delve into that and see kind of, you know, what you're about and is that a true statement? And so, yeah, you can learn a lot in 15 minutes and then it piles on because then I'm going to learn about you more after the combine, whether it's on an official 30 visit, whether it's your pro day, so on and so forth. So yeah, I mean, it's probably one of the most important things because, again, I think like going back a little bit, you talked about it, but like you hear the coaches say this every week in press conferences and players because it's true. It's hard to win at one game in the NFL. It's hard to win.

Everybody's so talented. And so I think it's important when you're in terms of team building, the more guys that you have on your team that you have to use resources to player development. And I'm not saying like all these things are important, but if I have to expel resources on making sure you're in the building on time, making sure you're handling things off the field that don't bleed into your performance on the field, whether it's having to spend time, again, an exorbitant amount of time teaching you the system, teaching you in your role, all those resources that you have to put out to other places, and it's fine, you're going to do it to a degree, but the more you have to put out, the less you're focusing on winning. And so I think, like, if you're bringing

in a ton of players that are going to require all these different resources, you're taking away the main focus, which is winning football games. And it's hard to win if you're putting all these resources towards all these other things that are, don't have to do necessarily like playing linebacker or playing tackle. And so that's why I think you have to be really intentional about how you build your team and who you bring in because of how hard it is just to win. what's the most unique conversation you've had with a prospect at like the combine yeah that's another solid question or also like as you're thinking about that he's deppling down um maybe a unique question that you might have for a player

are you talking about like unique question like off the wall you know what I mean you're yeah like the bangles asked me how many things are going to do with the paperclip in one minute and then videotaped me yeah I don't really go down that path okay that's just that's what you kind of talk about. Yeah, if he has that. I saw him thinking, so I would definitely love to know if he's had, like, what's a memory he has, like, with the conversation with a player that was just, whether bizarre, unique, whatever. Um, well, two things. One, I don't really, to be honest with, I don't really have, like, any of those off-the-wall questions that I personally do. Um, like, you know, are you a cat, would you rather be a cat or a dog? You know,

like, I don't really. You should be like, this is just for free. Pornhub or Red Tube. Well, if we could delve into that, maybe, maybe, you would let date your daughter. I take that back, cut the tape. Oh, that's so funny, dude. Awesome with the boys. Yeah, well, there's a couple things. One, I don't have anything like specific like that.

This was a free. The NFL has very specific guidelines. I just like you would throw. Sorry, sorry, sorry. There's guidelines on what you can and can't ask. Okay. I'm an appropriate standpoint. Okay.

So. Yeah, because they used to be able to ask like your sexual orientation, right? Or do they? I don't, there was like back in the day. Back in the day. Back in the day. Yeah, you do whatever you want. You're a lot more respectable in your questions and stuff like that.

So I don't have anything that that I specifically ask that is off the wall. I do have some things that I specifically ask that I won't share here because they're specific to. Right. Yeah. That's what I was afraid of. They're specific to me. This interview's done. Now, I've had just some college prospects.

Like, let's say a guy. was, had an arrest for something, whatever it may be. He was arrested, you know, let's just hypothetically say he was arrested. And there was... At Michigan or something. Drugs in the car. Just some guys just go off and just like, tell me the story in like complete detail, like way more than I wanted to know.

Like, and just like blow a bunch of people's spots up. You know what I mean? Not only themselves, but like two other teammates too. Yeah. Like just with no filter. Like, you know, maybe they didn't realize that they were on a job, like this was a job interview type of thing. It was like we were just sitting at the bar and it was like they gave me like the whole scoop

and then you just, they walk away and you're just like. That's the reaction he walks away. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, like that was. Can't draft him. He's a snitch. That was great.

That was a crazy night. Yeah. You know, and so a couple of those. You thought I'm going to coaching for a little bit. Yeah. I definitely wanted to. basically up until, you know, we were podcasting. And then every coach is like, do not do this, brother.

Like you get to do that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the time spent, I have no idea what upstairs is like.

But the time spent for coaches, like, you got to hate your family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You were kind of saying you get more a little bit more control in your day. Like as long as you're prioritizing. and yeah but that's what he was doing you were a little farther down the totem pole and like now you're the GM I'm sure there's more stress a long four hours yeah I mean I could spend all day and all night there

you know what I mean like if you really wanted to there's that much stuff that's done I've always um you know in terms of like the balance I've always tried to live close to the facility um and so you know I have three kids and and at one time they were all young enough for all three of them wearing diapers which was just another you know that was a hellish a hellish I cannot imagine years. Yeah, man. Me and my wife made it through, so now we know we're good.

You know we made it through that period of time. You guys are one of the ones like it. We're battle tested. Yeah, exactly. You've been to the fire. When you were checking off the adversity, like what people have gone through, like you've done it.

You're a safe get. Yeah. But like speaking to that coaching, because there's always, you know, meetings and all that stuff that's just, I actually take off, like I'll take off around 6 o'clock at night and come home,

eat dinner with my kids, give showers, give my wife a little, break and then I go back to the office. And then I'll work till whenever I work, whether it's 10.30 or 11 o'clock at night. And so I do, that's how I try to create some balance just with work and, you know, and personal and things like that to give my kids like some sense of normalcy. Even though when every time I come home, like it's, Dad, are you going back to work?

Like I come home on like a Saturday, you know, and it's, Dad, you're going back to work. You know, so that's kind of the part of the deal. but that's how I try to create. But like within coaching, it's hard to even do that. Do you know what I mean? Like it's, it's pedal to the metal.

Unless you're the head guy, right? Like if you're the head coach, making the rules. Correct. But if you're like the office line coach, it's like I, you basically have, I have work to do,

but I really can't leave until the head coach leaves. Yeah, whatever maybe. Like, I gotta watch the tone of pull above me, like go before I can, I can pack it also. It's a brutal business, man.

Brutal, dude. People don't realize because there's a lot of people that want to get into coaching because it's like just like all of us. Luckily, we've kind of made this avenue to stand ball, but like a lot of people at default go to coaching, not realizing what they're really getting into. It's like 80, 90 hours a week. Yes.

And like you might leave your house. Like you play on a Sunday. You go into work on Monday and you don't see your kids again until like Friday. Yeah. Friday is like the good day, right? Friday and Saturday. That's like the easy out early. School's out early.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Peeling out of the parking lot. And you're out of there like four 30 or five, you know, with at least for us, which is like, you know, that's a lot. like breakfast time. You know what I'm in the coaching world? Every coach is like it's, you know, once I've been around, it's like, well, what else am I

going to do? What else would I do? The one who would tell me to, like, not get in and he'd even call me. He called me like a few times last year. It was Coach Minnowski. Who's that? He's with the Vikings. He's a line by our coach or coordinator.

He was my coordinator in Washington. He was with Kentucky, the University of Kentucky a couple years. Awesome, dude. Remember, I'll tell you stories about Tom Sula. Yeah. Coach Thompson, the Italian, with Delaney Walker and all the time stories. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And him and his best friends like Menoski, and those dudes were like the best. But Meneski and I would chat on the funny. He's like, comp, this gig you got going on right now? He's like, don't, you don't want to get into coaching. And he would just be like, I do it because it's, you know, I feel like it's all I got. He's like, but if I could just sit on a bus and talk shit, like, do that.

We do it for the coolest lives. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is awesome. Yeah, dude. coaching would fucking suck. I don't know, boys. What do we think? Oh, that's a good question, JP.

JP just asked, who is the best scouting report? Who's the best player that had the best scouting report you've ever seen on a guy? Trent Richardson. Didn't necessarily have to pan on the league, but still on paper. He's like this guy. Just reiterate what you're saying back there. Like how people talk about Andrew Love. Well, he's one of them.

But I would say, like, it was before I got in the league. But, like, Peyton Manning's scouting report was like, But he went down, but he went second to Ryan Leaf. To Ryan Leaf. What was Ryan Leaf Scatter Report like? That was before I was in the league, too. Yeah, I know, but like, do you ever look back at old stuff and just like, because you, like, for the love of the game? Yeah, sometimes I do.

Yeah, sometimes I do. And I don't, I don't remember specifically what Leafs was. I know there was like, I just know Peyton's was like, this guy was like, this guy was like, most mature guy, super smart. Obviously, the pedigree was ridiculous. He was awesome on the field, field general, the whole deal. It was like grown man, you know, as a 22-year-old kid. And there wasn't like a flaw in the scouting report.

Maybe like the arm strength wasn't like top-notch. But his scouting report was amazing. I'm trying to think is my first year in the league was like, or one of my first years in the league was like the 2012 draft. which if you're a sports nerd, and you go back and look at the 2000, I think it's 2012, 2012 when Von Miller was drafted

to the research department. That or 11, right? Maybe it was 11. Yeah, because my second year in the league was 11. It was 11. I was 2010, 11. Like that drew, what's that? 11 was Vaughn Miller, I believe.

Because it was Cam Newton was picked number one. Then we had the number two pick. Vaughn Miller was picked. Then it was Marcel Darry. was picked in that round Patrick Peterson was picked in the first round AJ Green was picked in the in the first round

J.J. Watt was picked in the first round Julio was picked in the first round. This is all one draft. Yeah, no, that's wild. And the Tyron Smith, I mean, it's insane. Loaded. But the guy whose scouting report was ridiculous, like, is Julio Jones.

Oh, yeah. I mean, just an alien. He is an alien. Yeah. Size, length, hands. speed and the thing about Julio Jones that was really unique and this is what makes a lot of the really talented receivers unique

when you see the big tall guy that has a little guy I say the little guy's skill set meaning he can get in and out of all the different like the curls, the comebacks like the hard angle breaks for like the little guys they can drop their weight really quick and get out of a like the hunter Renfroes of the world

Hunter Renfro like Julio Jones can run every route on the route tree but he's six foot 6-4-2-20. Machine. Yeah, bro. Yeah. Because he can do...

Built in a lab. Like, he was one of those guys that could run all the different, you know, all the different routes. And you saw him at college. I mean, he was a man amongst boys. And there wasn't like... At Alabama, too.

At Alabama. Already men amongst boys in college. Yeah, what could you say negative? You know what I mean? So, like, he was a special one coming out. Going out... I wish he fucking did something on the tights. Staying on the wide receiver trend,

Devante Adams. You have one of the best, arguably the best wide receiver in the league. Talk about him. Max was talking about his work ethic and him as an overall teammate, which he was very surprised comparing. He was comparing Devante to when they had a superstar and Antonio Brown and just how different, you know, they're, you know, that's the word I'm looking for.

A.B. was a diva superstar. And when Devante Adams was brought in, he was thinking like, man, is he going to be the same way as A.B. was. Yeah. And it sounds like he's not at all. Yeah. No, the unique thing about him, like, besides, I'll get to the skill set. The unique thing about him is, like, his demeanor and his approach.

He's a grown, like, he, like, he's a grown man. Like, he should come into work. He comes in all Jordan gear. He's a Jordan guy. But, like, he should come in, like, in, like, a $5,000 suit, you know, with a briefcase. Like, this guy's coming into work. Business. Yes.

And his focus, and these are the, I've been around a few, like, or the really, really, really, some of the best players in the history of the game, I've been around Peyton Manning and Denver, Tom Brady in New England, and Devante Adams here. And the similarity that those guys have is every single day, it seems, is like Sunday. Like, their approach does not waver. Like, he is that dialed in. Like, Devante Adams at practice on a Wednesday is as dialed in as what you see on Sunday.

I mean, he is just works. And he's a serious demeanor. and he every like every part of the day and he and he's a great guy too like he has a good personality but like there's no mistake in that he's there to work like he's there to get better and he is there to like be the best version of himself every single day and I'm talking about from OTA's training camp to the last week of the season just before we're playing Kansas City it's the same every day and that's what's really unique about him as his approach is just super serious and there is no frills with him.

There is no diva with him. There is no extra stuff. There is just... Yeah. Everyone has to have a camera. No, everyone's got to have a camera. Everyone's got something. But like when he comes in the building,

it's... I didn't see him. It's all work. Yeah. Like every day. And so like that's the one thing that's really unique about him. And then the skill set for him

is what you don't see is like what I was surprised when I got and saw him start practicing as I knew was good, but was just like the start stop ability, the ability to change speeds like within a route. A lot of people run routes just one speed. This guy runs one route. There's like seven different speeds within that one route.

And then he has the ability, like his strength is deceiving. Like this guy's hard to bring down, super powerful, strong, hard to tackle, can make people miss. He has that just that suddenness that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that little move that's like, again, for a guy that's over six foot, over 200 pounds with the best hand coordination,

hand-eye coordination I've ever seen. Really? Like the late hands, we call it the late hands on the deep ball. So like the good, good receivers that have, that become really good deep ball receivers, a cornerback is taught to watch a receiver's hands. So like, you know, he's running on my hip, I'm running on the deep ball. When my hands go up, that's the DB signal.

for his hands and eyes to go up. My man, Devante, if you watch the latest hands in the game, like the deep ball will be coming. I see it in practice. The DB go nuts because they just can't stop it. His deep ball, the ball's coming, it's coming, and it's literally just that. Most guys, it's coming, it's coming, it's, I mean, he just,

and it's the most ridiculous thing you ever see. like the ability to do that when you're running at 20 miles per hour, like as a top end speed, a guy's on your hip, and you're also running 50 yards to be able to do all of that and then just, I mean, the hand-eye coordination on him is insane. His reaction speeds insane too.

Superstar. You were saying in Kansas City you guys lost by one point. You lost so many games this year by seven or less points. Like as a GM, where do you start? So next year, those game of inches, those tiny little inches go your way now. Yeah. It's a good question.

Thank you. Great question. Appreciate that. I'm getting better. Yeah, I think we lost what it was, eight one score games, you know? And again, like at the end of the day, we weren't good enough.

That's the fact of the matter to win those games. And so I think when you look at them, a lot of games in football and a lot of our games this year, there's three or four plays in each game that didn't go our way. And so you start to dig, and why. You have to start asking the question why? You know, why didn't they go that way? And again,

some of them, there's a lot of different reasons. I would say the one thing that I think is important to have, to being able to, I'll say it like this. I think the thing that's important to win those close games is you have to have people that, you have to have a group of 11 guys that in those critical moments can all execute their assignment and be synchronized with each other. And And I think at times we just, we weren't able to do that for whatever the reason is. Do you know what I mean? And there could be a lot of reasons to that. And I think that, and I've talked about this in other interviews, I think one thing that's

important to me in terms of building the team and improving the team is improving also, I think, the football intelligence on our team. Yeah, situational awareness. Situational football, situational awareness. And some of that comes from who you're bringing in. Some of that comes from how you, you know, how you teach it. And all those things kind of come together. but building a smart, tough, physical football team that can perform in the critical situations

is kind of the philosophy and is something that's really important to us as a Raider organization. And so I think to do that, we have to continue to find the pieces in the different rooms, whether it's the linebacker room, whether it's the defensive back room, the receiver room, whatever, find players that embody that and that can do that in those critical moments. And I think those are some of the, if we can do that, I think we'll eventually we'll end up turning the tides on those close games and those close games will be the games that we win. How much do you not just look at the players,

but you look back at these close games and the coach is calling? And like, do you look at those and say, all right, we've probably shouldn't have been in this call and the situation? And do you like, are you critical of those types of things? Yeah, I mean, so like with Josh and I specifically, obviously we have a relationship that goes a long way back. And so we have a lot of those critical conversations and we can have them and we can,

the cool thing about us is we can do it without it causing like a divide. I mean, you guys have, well, you've been in Tennessee the whole time. You've been in some of different buildings, but we've been in the NFL and we know there can be these different struggles between coaching and personnel and, you know, all those different types of things. I would say, one, I have a, having coached and understand, even though it was at college and high school, I have a great amount of respect for coaches and what they do

and the amount of time, like we talked about the amount of time that they put in. And so I'm not going to act like the expert either. Do you know what I mean? Because I know how much time that they put in. And I know ultimately what coaches are trying to do is they try to put players in the best situations to have the players be successful. And so I don't act like the expert

to answer part of your question because I'm not the expert. Right. And so I'll ask maybe the why or the reason and, you know, I'd say almost 10 out of 10 times or a lot of the times like, okay, I get it. You were trying to do X, Y, and Z, and we didn't, you know, we didn't execute it

for whatever the reason is. Yeah. But we have a lot of those conversations of, I have a lot of the conversations because I want to learn, too, of the Y's. Why did we do this here? Why did we do that here? But it's not the why of like,

why the hell did you do that? It's more like the curiosity and again, having the dialogue of to understand to make sure, like, we are doing the right things. And it's to be the same question, why did you draft this guy here? Or why did you bring this guy on the team?

what did you think he could do? Well, I thought he was going to fill this role and be able to help us in this area. That's the why. So we have a lot of those conversations, but I'm not in there acting like I'm the expert, I guess, at the end of the day. Right.

I guess it's like, yeah, no, that makes sense. Today, because of the way that the game's covered with there's so many different social media outlets, right? There's Twitter, there's, you know, again, all this different stuff. And one thing that I've noticed that obviously drives discussion and drives clicks and all the other different stuff. And that's not a criticism. That's just this is what's popular is coaches decisions, right? Like game management decisions.

Like called a timeout here. Why didn't they save the time out to here? So that's a hot button issue is like criticizing coaches and criticizing game management and criticizing coaches decisions. I would tell you this. What I've learned for the most part is that. that they have really good reasons behind most of the decisions that they make. And they spend a lot of time during the week, like I said, of putting players in positions to make plays. And so I guess I'm pro coach in that way because I respect what they do and I respect the time that they put in.

And I respect that they're the experts in their field and that they're making decisions. Most of the times they're making decisions that they think are best. Not to say there aren't game management, you know, games where coaches make poor decisions when it comes. comes to game management or maybe a play call here or there, like they're going to, nobody's going to be perfect. But I'm going to side with the experts and the amount of time that they put in and, you know, kind of lean on their expertise. Yeah. When it comes to these big decisions, we wouldn't be able to do this pot without asking about the Derrick Carr situation. How difficult of a decision was that, especially late in the

year, knowing that he was, you know, he's been the Raiders guy for, I think, nine years. Yeah. Can you speak on that? situation a little bit. Yeah, I would, you know, that, a decision like that, it's a tough decision. And, and like you said, there's a lot of emotion involved in that decision, too. And I would say, one, like, you spent time with Derek Carr, and Derek Carr is a phenomenal human being. He's, it's, it's hard not to like Derek Carr. And it's hard not to like Derek Carr, not just because he's, he has a great personality, he's kind, he's caring, he's respectful, all of that different stuff. But you also, like you said, who was with the Raiders for nine years.

playing one of the, playing arguably the most difficult position to play in all of sports. The quarterback's a tough position to play in totality. And so, yeah, so to see a guy that's played, you know, again, he's played nine years for the same organization and having to make a decision like that. There's a lot of emotion that's involved in having to make that decision. And it's a hard decision to make.

And at the end of the day, like, that's what we get paid to do, too, is make hard decisions. and we have to make a lot of hard decisions throughout the year. I mean, that's the most high profile one, but there was a lot of decisions throughout the year that were hard decisions to make, whether it was making a decision with John Abram or Alex Leatherwood.

Again, all those decisions are hard decisions. Like we talked about the beginning, one, because it's someone's livelihood. You know what I mean? And people that are really dedicated to their craft too. And so they're all hard, and they're all decisions you don't want to have to make. And again, I think that,

one was even a little bit more difficult because of what he's meant to the Raider organization and just who he is as a human being. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like it also speaks like, you know, earlier before the pod, you kind of talk about your philosophies of like getting in your spot and having the perspective that you have, that whole like the fear of failure, like not being able, not being able to have that close to you because I'm sure a decision like that was obviously a huge one. Like the external noise out there, everybody questioning stuff, why, this lay all this stuff it's kind of one of those things where you're you know being true i guess yourself in that philosophy of like this could this is a very difficult decision but i'm going to go

with my gut here and you know move forward with it yeah those are i mean like i said those are um because i'm sure you it's it's like a fire you immediately kind of feel like you you kind of hear it all whether or not you want to separate it it it's like oh this is going to be massive once it gets out yeah you and i'd be lying if it said you don't hear it all you know what i mean or most of it like you do it's hard not to hear, you know, on any of the decisions that you make. And so, yeah, you just got to trust, you got to trust your, you know, trust your gut and you have to be convicted on the decisions that you make and have a plan and a reason for doing it. And I'm not going to get into all that. But, you know, there's a plan and a reason for every decision. And, you know, like, ultimately, you have to, you have to feel like you're making the best decision for the Raiders, whether it's, you know, in the short term or the long term. And ultimately, that's what, you know, that's what we do. did in that situation. Man, this has been an outstanding podcast. It has. You feel like it elevates

the expectation at all when you make a decision like that. It's like, all right, well, now we need to figure out what our next moves are. Whether or not, again, you're like, I can't go too far into it because it's not like you're going to say what your decisions are going to be. But you make a move like that. It's like, all right, boys, we made this decision. Let's figure out the way that we make sure we end up being right

about this. Yeah, that's the reality of it because it's the quarterback. Right. It's the most important position on the team. I mean, it really is. Yeah. So, like, at the end of the day, like, I'm in charge of myself and, you know, our group we're in charge of filling the most important position on the team. And so, yeah, there's some, you know, there's some pressure that comes along with that. And however we fill it, it doesn't mean we're going to have an immediate answer, you know, this year. You know what I mean? And so, but at the end of the day, we have to have an answer. Right.

You know, in some form or fashion, you know. And so, yeah, there's pressure that comes along with it. And, again, that's also part of the excitement, too, is that pressure, is finding that guy. And, you know, that'll be the next task. Do we have a tier talk? I don't know if we do it. It's almost 8 o'clock right now.

I was going to just do the tier talk for like the intro. My wife probably was so mad upstairs right now. It's no dinner. He's got it. He's got it. 755. Yeah. Well, we can do the tier talk for the intro.

Yeah, we'll do the two talk for the intro. intro. This has been phenomenal. I think this has been an incredible podcast. It's been one of my favorites. Good. We do. Carissa. Oh, you got the sound treatment. She definitely heard that. I almost yelled we need you, but I'm thinking, I don't know her at all. All right. Have you enjoyed yourself? Yeah. Yeah. Wasn't what you thought it would be? Yeah. Because I know you were kind of, you, we were all excited to be together on this podcast. Yeah. It's surreal. I mean, it's surreal. Who do you think is going to be listening that we're not aware of that we'll be listening. Like, do you think,

NFL? You think the owner's going to be listening? Coach McDaniels? Probably not. That kind of sucks. That's a tough Al. I was kind of excited to hear, yeah, probably. Who will be listening? There's probably some people in the Raiders organization that maybe don't listen to Boston with the

boys that are going to listen to it because I'm on it. But, yeah, I don't know. Playoff Willie and Playoff Ziggie getting together? I was excited. That's the biggest headline out of all this. Are we still filming?

We can stop. Yeah, we can stop right now. Ladies gentlemen, thank you so much. As always, please subscribe, unsubscribe, resubscribe. If you want that Butterweiser merch, it's gone. It's gone, brother. You can't get that no more. We got a lot of good stuff.

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