1st & Goal: JT The Brick, Raider Nation Radio Host

The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on the Zach Guild Show. Let's talk some Raiders right now and preview their upcoming season with JT the Brick who you could actually hear on CBS Sports Radio this week.

Thursday and Friday if the program schedule I was sent is correct. This will be filling in for Jim Rome on many of the same great CBS Sports Radio affiliates Sirius XM and the free Odyssey app. JT always a pleasure. How you been? Good Zach, thanks for having me.

Hope you're having a good summer. So let me start you off with your Raiders and we look at the latest report from Jacina Anderson that the Raiders are open to restarting talks with the franchise tag running back in Josh Jacobs. What are you hearing there and and what is the likelihood of Josh Jacobs playing in game one with the Raiders up against the Broncos? Well I think he'll be there for game one and he's on no time schedule as you know as of today and no one really knows anything new on this.

It's all speculation. He'll play on the franchise tag as we all expect as they couldn't come to terms but since what happened to Saquon Barkley is important not only to Josh Jacobs but all running backs going forward to how to play on a restructured potential one-year deal. You know I think the Raiders and him were very very close before they didn't come to terms on an agreement and I think Josh will be fine.

He led the league in rushing. He's a great Raider teammate. His teammates want him back and I don't see any potential for any head butting along the way.

Unfortunately now he's in this predicament. This is where the running back market is. It's a tough time to be a running back but he's a Raider. He's coming off a monster year and they're going to need him because I think the Raiders have an unbelievable ground attack as proven last year and a much more potent and loaded offense going forward. Now we know how important he is to the success of that team. We saw that last year but when you don't get a deal done optically people are going to say oh that Josh McDaniel's coming over from New England where it was running back by committee they won so many Super Bowls that they don't value Josh Jacobs.

What do you say to people that are in that camp? I'd say they have no idea what they're talking about because look at Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, look with Derrick Henry saying now every running back in the league is not valued and perceived where they believe they should be and this is a business. So they're in the middle of a business negotiation.

It was actually only off here by a million bucks or less than that. We're talking about quarterbacks they're going to make anywhere from 50 to 60 million dollars. We're talking about NBA players some of them bums who quit on their own team making 35 to 40 million dollars in a season and load managing.

It's just unfortunate that one of the most important positions of my lifetime in any sport from the power forward to the center to the center on a hockey team to a starting pitcher in baseball. It's just a shame that the running back market is depressed as we speak. It's going through a cycle.

I don't know when that cycle is going to come back again. You know as a former stockbroker I look at it like the stock market. Stocks go up they go down. Right now the running back market is going down and the only people fighting for the running backs seem to be the running backs. And I know every situation is different and right now teams just aren't giving out those contracts but if that's right only a million dollars off it's like man it drives you nuts why they didn't get that deal done.

Yeah and again I don't want to be quoted on a million per se I'm just having a conversation but they're not off they're not off by three or four million dollars a year they're not off by a big number ten million dollars or fifteen million dollars on a two or three year deal. Every running back who's in a negotiation right now if you're going to hold out next year if you're going to get tagged again it's just going to be off by a small percentage of the number of what the franchise tag is and I think the franchise tag is a weapon that's a good weapon for the owners. Imagine a league where there was no franchise tag and every player would end up bolting after their rookie deal was up. Now you could say well a team has the right to extend a player and you know pick up the option on their rookie deal and all of that but in the Raiders sense when Josh Jacobs uh when Josh McDaniel came to the Raiders he never saw he never saw Josh Jacobs in the locker room he didn't know how good of a player he could be he didn't think you know I don't know if they thought they could lead the league in rushing or not or if they were going to be a passing team more so with Derek Carr and Devante Adams so you know last year at this time I was in Canton Ohio where Josh Jacobs was actually playing in the meaningless first preseason game and at that time people were freaking out oh my god they're shopping them they're trying to trade them no they had a plan in place Josh had an unbelievable year they didn't sign them to the extension and now it's just a business I have no concern about Josh Jacobs being ready for the road opener at the Denver Broncos and running hard in that game.

Let's get to the next down. JT the Brick here with us so when you get rid of Derek Carr I was expecting a big acquisition at the quarterback position you're bringing Jimmy Garoppolo he's won a bunch of games in this league he's struggling to stay healthy it was underwhelming to me what are your expectations individually for Jimmy G with some familiarity around Josh McDaniel's? Well I think Jimmy G should have you know everybody talks about him being healthy he's 100 percent healthy now so it's tough in the business that we're in is predicting how he's going to get hurt which I don't do with any player in any sport so as of tonight I'm going to say that Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy and plays for the Raiders I think if people say it's a wash with Derek Carr I'm fine with that if people think they're pretty much the same player or Derek's a little bit better or Jimmy's a little bit better than Derek I agree with all of that I just think Garoppolo will be better in this system that's all this is Derek had an opportunity to play in the system last year and he didn't play well not all of it was on him the defense wasn't very good they blew five double digit leads in the second half of games it's the first time that's ever happened dating back to leather helmets in the history of this game that won't happen again I just think that Garoppolo has an opportunity to be better in the red zone which is critical to the Raiders going forward because they have an opportunity to have one of the best red zone offenses in all of football that don't break the huddle on their opening game with Devontae Adams, Jacoby Myers, Hunter Antro, Josh Jacobs, Jimmy Garoppolo, Colt Miller and then they have an array of other fast wide receivers Trey Tucker who they took in the draft they got a lot of guys Philip Dorsett who are going to be able to get open and then Michael Mayer the tight end out of Notre Dame who's a beast so the Raiders offense is the strength of the team and if you control the ball a little bit more not turn over big leads not lose second half leads and keep the Raider offense on the field instead of punting the ball the Raiders will be a much improved team on offense. Does it annoy you that Darren Waller is the one girl on this team? I love Darren I think the world of him I did a lot interviewed him a lot in Vegas what he did with his sobriety and helping out people in need was incredible you know Darren had an opportunity Darren didn't play a lot the last year he had an unbelievable season with the Raiders a couple of good ones but you know he's injured last year waiting for him to come back from the injury was tough the Raiders lost a lot of games in that window look I'm going to cut right to the chase here right this is really simple Josh McDaniel and Dave Ziegler who now run the Raiders evaluate players much differently than the former Raiders GMs and coaches a lot of them I worked for this will be my 25th year with the team I respect all of them these guys in charge now coming over from the New England Patriots and the super success not success elite success that they have they evaluate players differently they look at contracts differently they look at depth a lot differently and they took a real good look at all up after he was extended watch what happened last year and decided that this was a player that they could move on from they've moved on from a bunch of players who are pretty good players Darren Waller and Derek Carr at the top of that list let's get to the next down JT the brick here with dust so I remember when Rogers proclaimed that his intentions were to go to the Jets that eventually came to fruition he went on McAfee show and he was talking about there was a former player he didn't say it but we all know it was Devante Adams and we love to link back up with was there ever any legitimate interest by the Raiders to go all-in and trade for Aaron Rodgers this past off season yeah I can't answer that as all-in but I think that Aaron Rodgers was in play just like Tom Brady was probably in play I mean two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time I think would have been thrilled to play for the Raiders really would if the money was right and they could have pulled off the deal which would have been Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady and you know the Raiders thought that for the price point and what they paid Garoppolo after they clearly were going to move on from Derek Carr you know even every person in the Raider nation like it or not understands that they were moving on from Derek Carr he didn't play in the last two games because they couldn't afford for him to get injured and for that contract to be guaranteed it was a great dream scenario Zach I said on my show live both of my shows back then I said I'll go pick up Aaron Rodgers I'll go pick up Brady at the airport if they want to be the quarterback of this team but it was far-fetched that that was going to happen especially for a Raider team that needs a lot of work on defense and they actually made some good decisions on defense spreading some money around so I think they're in a good spot now because with the quarterback that they have Garoppolo's won 70 percent of his games and he's won four playoff games beaten Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs won some really important games on the road this is what the Raiders absolutely need his leadership how humble he is but the point is he's got to stay healthy if he stays healthy the Raiders could be a vastly improved team compared to what most of the fraudulent national media thinks of the Raiders with this garbage three or four win team a team that had six last year should have had nine or ten fallen forward and I think they're a better team than the team they had last year so the Devonta Adams stuff that became a story over the summer then you see Rodgers take 35 million dollars less his dead cap is going to be almost impossible to move in next year anyway you could poo all that stuff about Adams requesting a trade at the end of the year yeah at the end of the year at the end of the year everything could anything could happen but at this point you know Devonta is in love with Las Vegas he and his wife love Vegas they love everything about it he went on record and cleaned this up the Raiders are his favorite team as a kid he loves playing here I mean look he went he went he came here to play for his roommate in college in Derek Carr and that's not the case anymore Aaron Rodgers who put him on the map and gave him all these hall of fame stature with the Jets and I think with Jimmy Garoppolo he gets a really capable quarterback who's played at a high level in this league and is going to get on the ball a lot I'll be very interested to see how many times Devonta gets the ball this year because he got a lot last year but Derek and him disappeared in a couple of halves in a couple of games that can't happen this year it's got to be a heavy dose to Devonta Adams let's get to the final down you know what we do JT JT the brick here with us we love to talk offense offense is what sells defensively who doesn't love Max Crosby but how about the rest of the defense for this upcoming season with the Raiders yeah this is clearly the weakness of the Raiders and I think they addressed a lot of it in the off season they went out and got you know Marcus Epps who won the NFC with the Eagles and he's going to start and play every play they got Jecorian Bennett in the fourth round one of the fastest players in the league at corner I thought it was really important to bring in Marcus Peters last week who was born and raised in Oakland always wanted to be a Raider I'm not saying he's going to play at the top of his elite game but that's a big improvement there and then if they hit a home run with Tyree Wilson who they drafted with a banged up foot knowing it would heal now Chandler Jones should activate and be better this year he got off to a slow start last year with Max Crosby they have a formidable edge rush the linebacker is their weak position I don't think they're done yet I wouldn't be surprised if they got a linebacker on cut down day or recognizable linebacker I think that's not the strength of their team and I think they have a vastly improved secondary they get the best one of the best punters in football and one of the top three kickers in football so they're loaded on special teams so the defense that probably is one more one more year away free agency and draft to be really good but that defense is got to play better than it has the last couple of years because they've been run over they've been statistically at the bottom when it comes to defense they haven't turned the ball over they don't make a lot of big plays and Max Crosby can't do it all on his own so this defense if they play better than expected I really think the Raiders are going to have a better season than expected and if they don't then the Raiders are going to have problems because that defense has got to get off the field and give the offense an opportunity to be dominant we know the AFC it's a gauntlet the AFC West is such a tough division bare minimum like what do you what is success this season for the Raiders JT the brick the success for the Raiders will be to be in the wild card hunt the entire year which would mean if Kansas City everybody thinks everybody knows Kansas City is the best team in football playing in the AFC West it's kind of like playing in the Patriots Division Don Brady's 19 years with the team you're playing for second place if the Raiders can hang around with Denver who they absolutely bleeping own I repeat on CBS Sports Radio all the garbage you're hearing in the media about the Broncos they're going to the AFC Championship this or that the Raiders have won the last six of seven and fired two former Bronco head coaches and Nathaniel Hackett and Vic Fangio because I lost to the Raiders not anybody else so if the Raiders could stay above Denver and keep the charges where they do every year even with them and have an opportunity to split with them and be hanging around late that would be successful if the Raiders are in playoff contention in the wild card which shouldn't be hard to do they take seven teams in both conferences if the Raiders can hang around that and be in the discussion then anything could happen that would be a success how warms the seat entering this year for McDaniels uh yeah Zach I host his coach's television show every week I got to sit down with him every week I mean you know I've been doing this 25 years my friend uh 27 on radio I'm not going to say that the guy I work for and interview every week is on the hot seat well you know you can feel that seat you're sitting right next to him yeah I'm right next to him but you know I'll tell you this about Josh McDaniels just two things on him yeah first off you know for Raider nation who's listening they don't know him they just a lot of Raider fans are pissed off because he came from the Patriots that'd be upset saying that you know your new coach came from the Lakers or the Celtics that that's not a problem he deserved to be here now he's got a win and he's a good guy and a lot of people know how sharp he is he's one of the greatest play callers in NFL history and if anybody doesn't believe that then they don't know football you know he was the guy calling the players when Brady was down 28 to 3 and won the Super Bowl he's a guy called literally every single play of Gronk's entire career now you gotta have great players you gotta have Brady you gotta have Gronk but if you look around at the rest of those Patriots other than Moss they weren't running around with all stars and all pros in every position and McDaniels lined them up and put them in a spot to be a dynasty so we know what he can do with the play caller now we got to see what he can do as a head coach but he's busting his chops to try to win there's a lot of pressure Las Vegas is now the sports and entertainment capital of the world we have a stadium where every fan every giant jet van viking van wants to buy all of our tickets and come in because it's Las Vegas there's a lot of pressure to win here because we're Vegas and it's the Raiders and everybody knows the Raiders and a lot of people think the Raiders are down so it's giddy up time Raiders got to shock the world and shut up all these critics who don't know half of their depth chart can't pronounce half of the players on the team and understand that this team is better this team is better than the lack of respect they're getting around the league it seems like you're directly talking to my producer hot pay cakey because he can't stand the Raiders he can't stand Josh McDaniels and he's been destroying you guys all offseason well as Al Davis said the Raiders have played with the greatest players and in the greatest games you can't tell the story of the NFL and its 100 plus year history without the Oakland LA and now Las Vegas Raiders and they're going to get it right and I think they're going to get it right sooner than later and when they do and the pendulum swings back to the side of the Raider nation Raider nation is taking names and they're going to be looking for receipts and they're going to be coming after everybody I just hope it's sooner than later I love it I love it JT the brick you can listen to him everywhere but he'll be here on CBS Sports Radio Thursday and Friday fill it in for the legendary Jim Rome JT always appreciated thanks all the best