Hondo Carpenter I Raiders Insider, Sports Illustrated

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That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash positive. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. As long as you're listening. If you don't have anything nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all. Welcome to the world of social media, Peter Schwartz. I got 99 problems, but Twitter ain't one.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Hope you survived your Monday. The dog days of summer, a lot going on. Vacation, certainly this time of the year, a lot to look forward to, and very soon, your favorite NFL team will be fully immersed in the heat and the humidity and the sticky and the icky for the sake of the game.

The sake of football. Thank you for all of your kind words about my climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty. It was tight. I bumped my head twice. It was extremely sticky and icky up there. Well, no, it was sticky and steamy. It was not icky. The pictures prove it. It was worth the climb and the 354 steps and the tight spaces and the sweatiness to be able to catch the views and see the inside of the Statue of Liberty.

We climbed up the inside of the statue. So if you haven't seen the photos, I promised you Facebookers, and I did, in fact, post them on Monday evening. So on our Facebook page, on Twitter, After Hours, CBS or my Twitter, ALawRadio chugging through a Monday night heading full speed toward a Tuesday morning After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. A point with 8.36 to go in the second. Carr, toss play. Jacobs gets a block from Johnson at the 30.

Cuts back inside stiff arm. 25-20. Jacobs off to the races.

5. Touchdown Raiders. Oh, well, we heard Derek Carr in that highlight from November on Raiders Radio, but really it was about Josh Jacobs last year. What a humongous performance he had, and it wasn't just about carrying the ball out of the backfield.

It was also catching the ball out of the backfield. It was a contract year, and yet there is no contract, and he has yet to sign his franchise tender. So we now are pleased to welcome back to the show Sports Illustrated Raiders insider Hondo Carpenter from Las Vegas. We know the deadline has passed for the Raiders and Josh to get a deal done.

How far apart were they when it came right down to it, Hondo? Well, here is what we do know. I've been reporting since the season ended that there was a very low percentage chance that they would get a deal done. I also said that they would use the franchise tag, and that, again, there would be a very low chance a deal was done, but I would expect Josh to be back either just before the start of the season or literally the first week of the season. He's fully expected them to play, so nothing's changed in my reporting in months. Here's where the issue is, Amy, is the Raiders love Josh.

Josh loves the Raiders. They want to be together. The problem is when you both want to do a long-term deal, what's your definition of a long-term deal? I understand that a lot of running backs are very frustrated with the way the system works, but they need to be frustrated with themselves and the NFL Players Association because this is the system and the contract they agreed with, and it's in place until 2030. The deal is that at the running back position, they have a proven track record of a very short window of health, and so no team wants to give a humongous, long-term, guaranteed deal knowing that the percentages are against the running back being available. You can't blame a businessman. The company that I work for and you work for, if they knew, boy, after X amount of time production goes down, they wouldn't do it for us. It's not because it's football running backs.

It's because it's business. On the other side, every running back and every athlete, for that matter, never thinks I'm going to break down. I'm always going to be healthy.

I'm always going to be the 1,000-yard rusher. Here is what we know. The Raiders made their last offer on Saturday. It was an offer with a couple of different options.

It didn't meet what Josh wanted, and so it was rejected. Again, everyone who understands now, the Raiders have the franchise tag on them, and they can't work a deal out now until after the season. The Raiders are fully expected to play. I know Josh's teammates are fully expected to play. All indications I'm getting from all parties is that he will show up there week one when they go to Denver. Do I expect him to get a long-term deal?

I don't think he's going to get a better offer next year than he got. I don't want to seem like I don't care about him because I love Josh. Josh is a wonderful young man. Great kid. I think he's a great football player. He's a great person.

This has nothing to do with his character. He just plays a position that has a very short shelf life in the National Football League, and he's experiencing it. And he is not the only one, of course, who's in this position because Tony Pollard of the Cowboys and then Saquon Barkley of the Giants are all set to play the one year on the franchise tag. But I'm wondering, Hondo, what's your reaction to the number of running backs who took to social media to lament this situation on Monday? It seemed like they flooded Twitter.

Well, I think they did, and let's not pretend that agents aren't involved as well trying to get public opinion and to get public persuasion. But at the end of the day, I mean, there's still a Dalvin Cook out there. There still are very good running backs that are potentially available, and it's the position that they chose. It's the position that they play.

Their shelf life just isn't there, so they take to Twitter. I believe a lot of it was very much induced by agents trying to put pressure on teams. Someone said to me today on another interview, you know, what would you say to the running backs?

You should have picked a different position. I mean, I understand they're great at what they do. These men are tremendous athletes. Josh Jacobs is in tremendous shape. He's a terrific kid, and I call him a kid because I'm a 52 year old man, but he's a terrific young man. He's in great shape. He's a hard worker.

But let's look at something for a minute. His first three years in the league, he was a good running back, but he would take himself out of games when he needed a rest. He would get injured and need to come out. His best year was his contract year. And I said prior to the contract year, if I was the Raiders, I would not pick up the fifth year option. He hadn't shown me enough for what it would cost them, and he comes out and has a great contract year.

And hey, I credit him for that. But the point is, the fourth year is what everyone remembers, so you've got to be careful if you give them a long-term contract. And the Raiders were willing to look at some things. They wanted some incentives. They wanted to be able to say, yeah, we're willing to pay you, but you're going to have to take some agreements because we've got to protect our franchise.

And at the end of the day, it's like I said earlier, the definition of a long-term deal can be two different things to two people, and that's where this ended up coming to where a deal couldn't be reached. We're pleased to have Hondo Carpenter back on the show with us again. Covers the Raiders for Sports Illustrated, joining us from Vegas.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So to clarify, the team would like to re-sign him or would have liked to re-sign him. They would like to keep him around. They just couldn't come to an agreement.

Correct. There was nothing within the Raiders that said we don't want him. If that was the case, Dalvin Cook would be here. They want him. It's just trying, and he wants to be here. But it just came down to, okay, how do we make this work? And I understand a lot of Raider Nation is very angry at Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler because, first of all, they're Patriots, and Raider Nation will never forget the tuck roll.

And it's just the fact of life, Amy. But the second thing is, remember, these fans are fans of an organization whose mantra is just win, baby. And the franchise hasn't done that. I mean, Mark Davis has had two coaches that took him to the playoffs since he's been the principal owner after his dad's passing, and he fired them both.

And so the fan base is extremely frustrated because every year they buy in to just win, and they haven't. And so all along comes Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. In my opinion, Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels have done a very good job. I mean, last year there was a lot of reasons that they took a step back, but I think that they have worked extremely hard at it. The drafting and the getting of free agents has been good, and they needed to bring some salary cap stability to this team. And Al Davis would have went out and signed Josh Jacobs to a long-term deal. And then all of a sudden, in year two or three, when his production isn't there, he would have had to keep him around for three years. And you know that Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler cut their teeth in an organization that said, we'd rather let you go a year early than keep you a year late. Now they believe in them, and I think that's really important. There's no animosity there.

It's just frustration that a deal couldn't be reached. Josh Jacobs says coming off a career year, as you pointed out, had a dozen touchdowns, over 1,600 yards, right now at 25 years old, certainly could be an asset in that backfield. And according to Hondo, he will be there in time for the season to begin. Now, he obviously will be the quarterback's best friend.

And that brings us to the quarterback question. What's the latest on Jimmy Garoppolo, Hondo? Jimmy's doing great. They're very happy with his progress, very pleased with his progress. Talked to several of his teammates who've been out with him and spent time with him. He's great. The biggest concern with Jimmy Garoppolo is not if he's going to be ready for the season.

The biggest concern is can he play 17 games. And I have said this numerous times. It's nothing new.

I'm repeating it. But in the game of football, the best ability is availability. And Jimmy Garoppolo, when he's healthy, is an elite quarterback. He's a winner. He is a great guy in the locker room. His teammates love him. He's a hard worker.

The only knock is that he's not been able to finish. And I said this before they signed him. Now, the Raiders were all in. They believed, inside that building, they believed Tom Brady was going to be their quarterback this year.

Then some things happened that it wasn't able to happen. He's now going to be an owner and good for him. And so they go out and get Jimmy. And they have a very favorable contract for them if he's not healthy.

But they roll the dice. And they said, listen, we love Brian O'Hoyer. Now, they love Dayton O'Connell, the pick out of Purdue.

He's a kid that if he'd come out a year early, this after the 21 season, had been in the 22 draft, a lot of people believed that he would have been a first-round draft pick. They pick him up later and they love him. But this is a team that if Jimmy Garoppolo's healthy for 17 games, then Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler deserve all the credit in the world because they went all in on him. And if he doesn't, they deserve all of the blame.

This is their call. Mark Davis knew of it. Mark Davis signed off on it. And so to me, the biggest thing with Jimmy Garoppolo is not week one. Is he going to be there for all 17 games? If Jimmy's healthy all 17 games, I think the Raiders will win nine games and miss the playoffs by one.

But if he's not, I think it's going to be a very long season for the Raiders. And I think it's just going to turn the heat up even higher on Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. Were they disappointed that Brady decided to retire?

Oh, I think there was absolute disappointment. I think they thought they were going to get him. I think that they were convinced he was going to be their quarterback. And then the situation turns out that he's going to retire. And obviously, being an owner, he's going to be involved in the franchise. He's still going to be involved. Not to the level that they wished. But yeah, I think there was absolute disappointment. I think anyone who had a chance to get Tom Brady would have been excited about it.

You know, he's clearly not in his prime, but Tom Brady, not in his prime, Amy, is still better than 90% of the quarterbacks in the National Football League. You can come in with strep throat and you're still better than 90% of the people on national radio, Amy. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Although strep throat is the worst, I would not wish it on my enemies. It's awful. I agree. Hondo Carpenter is with us from Las Vegas here on CBS Sports Radio. Why are you not believing they're going to make a major jump in 23?

Alright. Well, first of all, I think nine wins is a jump from where they were if Jimmy's healthy for all 17. And here's why I would tell you I would think they would be out of the cusp of the playoffs. They have a very difficult schedule.

They play in the AFC West, which arguably is one of the best divisions in all of the National Football League. They have the 10th hardest schedule, and they've got a lot of young players that are burgeoning stars, guys that really are on the cusp. Now, real quickly, I'll just give you some names of some guys, but you know, they get Jaquarian Bennett out of Maryland. And this is a kid that a lot of people don't realize how well he played in college. And this is a guy I think that really has a chance to become something special. Chris Smith out of Georgia, the safety, they stole him. He's a guy that's going to be really good. Michael Mayer, this is a kid they had rated around 15th on their board, 15th best player. The tight end out of Notre Dame, they pick him. This may be one of the, I mean, this kid has star potential written all over him, Aidan O'Connell.

And I could go on. There's a lot of great young players. They did go out and they go get a superstar like Marcus Epps at safety, a guy that the Eagles wanted. They just, they have so much talent, they couldn't afford to keep them.

There is some, you know, Robert Spillane, think about this kid. I think it was the last four or six games in Pittsburgh. He played every down on defense and every down on special teams. He's just an old school leather helmet wearing, blue collar, lunch bell linebacker, totally what you expect out of Pittsburgh. They sign him, he's going to be big. Then they go get Jacoby Myers.

And you know, what a pickup he was. They pick up Trey Tucker from Cincinnati in the draft of Speetzer, Phillip Dorsett, DeAndre Carter. I mean, their wide receiver room, top to bottom, are probably the most loaded in the entire National Football League. Their offensive line takes a beating because, you know, a lot of things with Derek Carr holding the football a little bit longer. But let's remember, they blocked for the NFL's leading rusher that offensive line, everybody's back. They do go get a McClendon McCurtis, who they stole as a UDFA out of Tennessee Chattanooga.

I think he's got a chance to compete. So this is a team that has got a lot of talent, but it's a lot of young. So when you ask me, why don't I think it's more than nine, not more than nine wins?

It's because they're young and young players make young player mistakes, number one. But their schedule's brutal in the AFC West. And let's be brutally honest, until somebody knocks off the Kansas City Chiefs, they are the big dog. And think about San Diego. They're a coach away from being a good team. I mean, can you imagine if Sean Payton was in San Diego today?

Well, I guess Los Angeles now, excuse the Chargers. But every football team in the National Football League would be nervous. That's a very good team with a very bad coach. You can always count on him to cost them a couple games a year.

You look at Sean Payton, who I think is one of the best offensive minds in the game of football, he's clearly going to be able to know what to call for Russell Wilson. You obviously know we have an Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. It's a brutal part of the division in the conference.

And that schedule is just the reality. They're going to be in a dogfight every single game. I'm pretty sure that's what was predicted last year about the AFC West, and it didn't quite happen. The one major difference, Chiefs haven't changed, they're still the kings of the West, but one thing that has changed, no more Derek Carr. So Hondo, hang on, got to get to a quick break, but I want to ask you about no Derek Carr in the building.

And also, Las Vegas feels like the center of the sports world, or at least the leagues want it to be that way. We'll have more with Hondo Carpenter from Las Vegas, Sports Illustrated Raiders Insider. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. With a beautiful grab, and got away from a defender, took off to the end zone. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

Call Amy at 855-212-4CBS. It is going to sound a whole lot different on Raiders radio this season. No more Derek Carr, he was the longest tenured Raider. Man, he had seen so much change, a revolving door, coaches, general managers, teammates of course. That includes his BFF Devontae Adams who joined the team last year. But now Carr is not in the AFC West, or the AFC for that matter.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. A couple more minutes with our friend Hondo Carpenter, who covers the Raiders in Las Vegas for Sports Illustrated. Hondo, Derek Carr cast a very large shadow in that organization, had been there the better part of a decade, going back to when he first won the job.

What's it like to cover the team without him? First of all, in the interest of fair disclosure, I consider Derek a friend, and I love him. I love his family. I love everything about Derek Carr. I'm proud to say I know him.

I have a lot of family in New Orleans. I told him, you're going to be proud to have Derek as your quarterback. But I think he's better off not being in Las Vegas, and I think Las Vegas is better off for not having him. Derek took a beating leading this franchise, and it was a difficult road for him. He was at times a counselor, at times he was a captain, at times he's a coach, at times he was a leader, at times he's trying to figure out stuff for him.

He's a consummate professional. It's weird not having him. But it's one of those situations where I believe that Derek would say, and I'm not quoting him, I'm just giving an opinion, that, you know what, a change of scenery was probably pretty good for him, and I think it was good for the Raiders.

Just both teams need to go. I can tell you this, Derek does not and did not hate Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels. They did not hate him. I can tell you the reason they gave Derek the contract they did was because they fully expected him to be here long term.

I reported this at the time, and I stand by it, it's accurate, and Josh has never denied it, even when we talked about it on the record. Part of the reason that he took this job, remember, he could have went anywhere, was because of Derek Carr. It just didn't work, and I think that the franchise had just been through so much. I remember when Henry Ruggs' incident happened, the owner didn't come out and talk, Derek did. That had nothing to do with Derek.

Derek didn't make Henry Ruggs drink that night at Topgolf. Derek Carr didn't get behind the wheel, and yet there's Derek Carr up there saying, he texted me earlier in the day, could I have done more? Derek gave his heart and soul to the franchise, and at the end of it, there was no Super Bowl.

So it didn't get the result that the fans wanted or he wanted, and I think the divorce was good for both. But it is different, but I'm happy for him, and I'm happy for the Raiders. And I'm going to tell you, if there are Saints fans listening, you should be happy. You've got a really good quarterback, and I think it's going to be fun to watch the Saints this year.

Excited to see how that plays out, because you can tell that he's rejuvenated and ready for a fresh challenge, and boy does Derek Carr love a challenge. So Hondo, before I let you go, I like to ask this of people who live in Vegas, and I know you haven't been there your whole life or anything, but there's WNBA with a championship, the NHL with the Stanley Cup, of course football is there now, baseball is moving in soon, Super Bowl will be there in February, there's all kinds of events that are taking place. Is there anything hotter than the Vegas sports scene right now? The weather. 119 the last three days, Amy. Listen, you know it's hot when you've got a great air conditioning and it doesn't work in your car.

I mean, you looked at 119 outside and 94 in your truck. And you go to the shop and they're like, you don't need to charge it, welcome to Vegas, sir. So yeah, no, let me just say this. First of all, Raider Nation is going to hate that I say this, Amy, but Allegiant Stadium is the number one draw for fans who are not Raider fans. So what happens is this is the number one destination city. So if you're up in Chicago, negative 20, and you've got 8 inches of snow, do you want to go to Soldier Field? Do you want, hey, let's just wait, save our money, go to Vegas, go spend it Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fly home Monday and catch a game.

So it's been really hard. Mark Davis has taken a bunch of criticism that he didn't deserve for the price of tickets. The problem is, is a lot of people came in and bought those tickets for resale.

Mark didn't outprice anybody. And so you see a lot of fans from other teams because it's the number one destination city. I have a buddy who last year, him and his wife, he's a high school football coach, she's a nurse in another state, and their childhood team that's not from the state that they live in was coming to Vegas. They used to have tickets at Soldier Field.

They got rid of them. And it cost them five grand for two tickets on the 40-yard line lower bowl. And they flew here, had a great weekend, and still paid less than what they would have for season tickets.

And they were in air conditioning. They got Vegas. They got all the stars, the halftime shows.

This city is on fire. Now, I'm from Michigan, so I'm a Red Wing guy. I love hockey. And so I'm an old-school hockey guy, so I admit, the first time I go to watch the Golden Knights, and it's a Vegas show. And the hockey was great, but all the ambiance, I'm like, what is going on here? Why is nobody watching?

And so it's different, but it's absolutely fun. Nobody puts a show on like Vegas. Everybody in America should come to see one game at Allegiant Stadium.

The city's on fire from it. And so people will say, well, it's not the biggest city. Why is it going to have every sports franchise? Because it may not be the biggest, but everybody comes here.

So think about this one, the A's. No one goes to Oakland for vacation unless they have family there. And I'm not ripping Oakland.

I've been there before. It's a beautiful city, and I love it. But if you're thinking about places to go, it isn't like Oakland's top of mind. But now, all of a sudden, if you're a person that's sitting in New Jersey, and you just say for whatever reason you love the Phillies, or you love the Yankees at the Mets, or whatever team you love, hey, let's go out to Vegas and watch three Yankee games, or three Philly games, or whatever, and enjoy Vegas. I mean, hotel rooms are cheap, airfare's cheap, and there's always going to be a built-in crowd here.

It's going to be amazing. Now, the difference is the Golden Knights have a home ice advantage where the Raiders don't, because they were born here. They didn't move here. So everybody that lives in Vegas is a Golden Knight fan. But not everybody that lives in Vegas is a Raider fan, because a lot of them had loyalties to other teams. So when they come, they go fill it up. But it's okay, because those airports and those hotels are rocking with people coming from all over the country. Exciting. Looking forward to seeing what else lands in Vegas, but we know the Super Bowl is headed there. Follow Hondo on Twitter, at hondocarpenter, covering the Raiders with all their changes.

New regime, maybe a major jump this year for Sports Illustrated. Good to catch up with you again, my friend, and congratulations on the new addition to your family. Well, thank you, and congratulations to you. You are just the best in radio, and let me tell you, one of the things that I appreciate, and long before you were my friend, I used to tell my daughter, my daughter's very beautiful, and I would say, if you get into media, don't get in because you're pretty.

Get in because you're smart and good. I've always loved that about you, Amy. You're a beautiful person inside and out, but I love that when I listen to you, I learn stuff. I love the guests you have on. You are such a quality addition to our profession, and I honor you and I appreciate you.

Oh, thank you. That's so kind of you, Hondo. And any time people tell me that their daughters listen or they want their daughters to listen, that makes me happy. My two nieces, I tell them all the time, it's better to be a role model than a supermodel. I'm not sure they believe me, at least at this age. But yeah, always wanted to get into radio because I didn't want to be known for what I looked like.

I didn't want my career to be based on what I looked like or didn't look like. So that's a great compliment. All the intel you need about the Raiders as they get set to open camp, other teams will start with their rookies on Tuesday. I can't believe it. It is here.

It is so here. You know what else is here? SEC Media Day.

So we'll get to those as we head through this edition of After Hours. And I'm sure, well, you know what? I can't speak for Miles Sanders, but did you hear what he said about Andy Dalton?

Marco Bolet, he is here in studio. Don't give it away. Do you think that he intended to say what he did about Andy Dalton or it just slipped out and he forgot who he was talking about? No, I listened to it. He knew exactly what he was saying.

All right. We will play it for our listeners coming up from our affiliate in Charlotte, WFNZ, the Mac and Bone Show. We've had those guys on our show before. Miles Sanders, new member of the Carolina Panthers, and he had some strong words for Andy Dalton. The second half of the baseball season is here, and each game means a little, little bit more. We're talking pennant races and wildcard chases with each pitch bringing us closer to the playoffs. The free Odyssey app lets you listen to live play-by-play of your local team. So no matter what you're up to, you'll never have to miss another game. Download the free Odyssey app today and keep baseball close by all summer long. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y. Odyssey.