Drive Time - Know The Enemy: Las Vegas Raiders

Las Vegas Raiders. The key to the Raiders resurgence in the ground game last year, the lynch pins of the defensive overhaul, the relationship between Derek Carr and John Gruden. All of that and more from the foremost expert on Raiders football. He writes for The Athletic He's a must follow on Twitter. We're talking to Ted Winn on this Wednesday, July the eighth edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Sixteen

December seven, Giver Take. Depending on some schedule, t B D S Vegas Baby the Dolphins in Las Vegas to take on the Raiders and that game could be on Sunday or it could be flexed into that Saturday triple header like we had last year in Week sixteen, A fun time for the NFL. A very interesting team here for the Raiders. Year three out of a ten year contract for John Gruden. They have remade the offensive line successfully in the last couple of years. Now they're working

on the defense. Gruden got his speed merchant out wide to par with this quarterback there and Derek Carr. And let's not waste any more time and go ahead and get to my guest today. He is a must follow good film work on the Athletic on his Twitter timeline. So let's go ahead and welcome in now to the podcast Ted Winn and writing Shotgun now Here on the Drive Time podcast is Ted Winn. He's a staff writer for The Athletic and FL and the host of the

Run the Film and State of the Nation podcast. Ted Welcome in, man, Thank you appreciate you having me on. So you guys are getting ready to move to a whole new not just facility, but new city, new state. How's that going for you in terms of your journalistic endeavors? Is that a challenge for you? Just kind of talk us, talk to us about moving from one city to another in the NFL O. Lucky for me, I'm a film guy.

I'm not a beat writer, so I don't I don't have to move to Vegas, but I think, you know, it would be more challenging to have to deal with, um, you know, traveling to Las Vegas every week for the home games if that does happen this season, or you know, if maybe that if media maybe you know, might be allowed to go next season. I don't know. Everything's up

in the air right now. As you know, everything is pretty you know, nothing set with COVID coming in, So I don't know if we have we are even allowed to go to games this year or we have to wait another year. But yeah, I mean, it's just a challenge to have to instead of just having to write is in my backyard and have to take flight uh two games. But luckily it's not too far. It's only about an hour flight. Yeah, just a hop scamp and I jump over there. You mentioned COVID, They're real quick.

I'm just curious. I know you're a film guy, so game pass definitely probably your bible as far as your work habits go. But has it been different for you getting to cover football and cover the team right now during the pandemic? Um, you know, everything for football is on the same schedule as of right now, you know, because like the draft was on at the same time, we're in the same period in offseason. It will be

weird when training camp does come along. Everything is normal as of right now, but things will start getting weird as training camp comes along. Yeah, it's been it's been unique covering these these events and these press conferences and things from a distance and not being there in person. Let's go ahead and talk about the reason you're here. Talk about this Las Vegas Raiders team. Man, it feels

weird to say that. And I want to start at the most important possession, and we start here every podcast here on the Know the Enemy series at quarterback and talk to you about Derek Carr, because you know, ted from an outside perspective, we've heard about John Gruden be in love with Kyler Murray. We've heard about his possible infatuation with two A tongue volo, a Dolphins quarterback. Is Derek Carr his guy? And what do you think of that relationship and what it ultimately turns into this year

and beyond. I think Derek Carr hasn't proven to be Gruden's guy just yet, but he's he's he plays at a level that's good enough to where he's very harder place. But I think Gruden wants that, you know, that a plus um elite type of Tier one quarterback that Carter hasn't played like in a in a long time. So anytime there's a chance that he gets that Kyler Murray type of player or of a player that has potential to be a that tier one quarterback, it's me tantalize.

But the Car is just at that borderline where he's just good enough, smart enough, makes enough plays to where he he's harder place. And you know, obviously we talked about how Gruden is just he just gets tempted when he when he sees these types of quarterbacks. So I think that kind of shows you that he's will he's willing to upgrade if he has that chance. But it's just extremely hard to upgrade over Car. And they signed Marcus Mariota this offseason, and they gave him a contract

that's just huge on incentives. So I think it's gonna be very tough for Mariota to replace Car in this offense that's hard to learn. It's gonna take some time off. He's gonna be shortened. But who knows. If Car doesn't play well enough into the season, Mariota can't take over. I mean, I just haven't seen a contract like the

one that Mariota has as a backup. Um. I don't think there's a very high chance he takes challenges Car in the in the off season, but if he if Car doesn't play up to par during the season, we might see Mariota. Yeah, there's all kinds of connections when you talk about Derek Carr and Marcus Mariotta to a Dolphins quarterback or former Dolphins quarterback and Ryan Tannehill and how he basically did to Mariotta, what Mariotta would hope

to do to Derek Carr there in Las Vegas. Obviously for the Raiders that would not be ideal because you want Derek Carr to be your guy and be the answer.

But it is that unique situation, that unique territory where you have a quarterback who's good, but you also have a chance to possibly upgrade on that quarterback if you can, And I think that's probably a good thing, right Like the fact that John Gruden's out there trying to find, you know, trying to get better every position and just trying to add more good players to the roster, right, Yeah, I mean, and naturally you want to always look for always have to get better, and you get you get

better at upgrading each position and just being you know, looking at every position without you know, just with a business like perspective, kind of like what the Patriots do. But with quarterback it's a sensitive you know, it's a sense of position. Usually when you have a quarterback, you just commit percent. And maybe they're doing that behind behind doors, but it just seems like from an outside perspective they

aren't quite settled yet. But car has a chance to shut everybody up and really solidify himself as a franchise quarterback this year. He's going to have one of the best offensive lines of football this year. He has a bit of upgraded wide receiver corps with Henry Ruggs coming in the first round draft pick, and Tyrelle Williams is gonna be healthy. Williams looked great in camp and looks really good in the first game, but then he got

foot injury that really hampered him throughout the season. So, I mean, Carr has has a good offense to built around him and This will be his third year in this offense. He showed a lot of remprovement a second year, but he has more to prove and he really has his step up and solidify his spot this year if he wants to remain the Raiders quarterback. Well, I do want to touch on that offensive line and the addition of Henry Ruggs, an absolute speed merchant on that offense.

But I want to stay here on Derek Carr and ask you from a film watcher's perspective in All twenty two on such as yourself, like, what is it that Derek Carr does that does put him in that echelon of quarterbacks that he's tough to replace? But maybe what is it about his game that makes him not in that upper elite level area like maybe he was back in Well, he's extremely intelligent. I mean, this is not an easy offense to learn. Gruden is not an easy coach to play for because he had banded so much

from the position. But he he seems to have a really good grasp of this offense. He could make audible as he could read defenses. He has a lot of arm talent. He could he could he could make every throw in NFL. He he's made some pick tackler throws. But the thing that has always kind of hurt him is his his his conservativeness. Sometimes he just won't unleashed unleash the ball. And he has the arm talent to do it, We've seen it, but he there's times where

he just is too conservative. Um So, hopefully with an upgraded receiding corps and weapons that he could trust. I think that trust is a big deal for him. It's hard for him to trust receivers and when he does, he'll he'll let go. And I think he showed that with micro crabtree. Uh. But you know, I still believe that even when he doesn't have an ideal receiving corps, he has to find a way to be more aggressive and he has a talent to do it. So how

does that factor Henry Ruggs into the offense? When you talk about maybe more of a conservative nature, maybe John Gruden wants to be a little bit more vertical, and I think the Henry Ruggs addition to the offense would certainly suggest that how does that work together when you have a quarterback who might be a little bit hesitant to go vertical? And a receiver who really shines in that area, well, it gives them one less excuse to be conservative because now you have a guy that could

get behind defenses and has that ability to separate. UM. So you know, last year, I think you could have you could make the you could reason out and say, you know, Tyroll Williams was hurt and he really didn't have any weapons around uh in a receiving course, So maybe that's why he was conservative. But this year, when you you add in a high first round draft pick out wide receiver that could just get behind defenses, uh,

Tyre will Williams healthy, Darren Waller really established himself. You have those weapons, and you really want to see car take a step up and be more aggressive with a better receiving corps. So you've mentioned Darren Waller, We've talked about Henry Ruggs and Tyrelle Williams. I'd probably throw henter Renfro Hunter Renfro into that mix as well. How do you stack those guys in terms of the pecking order,

in terms of who gets the most targets this year? UM, I think you know, Henry Ruggs could make a huge impact with with minimal targets. I think that was one of the reasons why they wanted Rugs because defense the Raiders got were so good at running the ball. Last year, they saw a lot of eight man front, a lot of defenses cheating up at the line of scrimmage because they didn't respect the receiving corps. And but they knew this offensive line was big. They knew Josh Jacobs could

run the ball. So another best part of the reason why they got Ruggs because they wanted defense to back the deep speed and put another safety back there. So even if Ruggs is not getting a ton of targets, but he does hit a few deep routes, uh you know once or once or twice a game, that that'd be huge for this Raiders offense. Um and Tyrolle Williams is a guy that I think should see more targets when he's healthy. I thought he was in line for

a big year, but again, that injury was big. But I wouldn't be surprised if Hunter Rentfro was one of the leaders and targets by the end of the year, just because he's so good underneath. Then he showed how reliable he was a third down and we talked about trust with car. I think he's really established a nice trust with UH, with Hunter Rentfro and obviously Darren Waller is I believe he's, you know, one of the top five tight ends in the league, so he should see

a lot of targets as well. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Hunter Renfrow just get a ton of targets just because he could work underneath. That doesn't mean he'll get the most yards, but I think he'll see a lot of targets. Yeah, you talk about Hunter Renfron, reliability is the first word that comes to mind there. He was dabbles when he guy in Clemson catching all those big passes from Deshaun Watson down there in college.

And you allude to the running game, they're a little bit and Josh Jacobs and maybe teams playing more of a two high structure now that they do have that speed guy to take the top off the defense. And I'm curious if this running offense was really just a product of Josh Jacob's being so good at what he does, because you go back under the two years with John Gruden, they were and then thirteenth in rushing yards in the NFL. The year before Gruden arrived, they were also twenty five.

So was that improvement you talked about this offensive line? Was that improvement just a Josh Jacobs thing, an offensive line thing? Was it a running scheme thing? Like? Why did the run game get so much better this past season? I think it does have a lot to do with the offensive line. I mean the offensive line, they're just massive. I mean you have you have the right tackle, uh, Trent Brown, who is the biggest human in the NFL.

And you know, you have Games Jackson, you have Rodney Hudson, Richie Incognito played like one of the best guards in the league last season. Colton Miller is improving. So you have this huge offensive line, and then you have, you know, the whole Antonio Brown fiasco that happened last season. I think that really hurt their passing games. So they had to Gruden had to rely on the run. They had to rely on a lot of two tight end three

tight end sets. Uh. They have a fullback alec In Gold who was an undrafted free agent who really played like one of the best fullbacks last season. He was just pulvering, pulverizing, guys on lead blocks. So I think it's a combination of having to they you know, they had to rely on the run game and they had their personnel. Is just they're just a bunch of big guys.

Josh Jacob is um really you know, you just look at him and you see a big, powerful runner, but he's really a mature inside runner, great vision, great discipline. He really maximizes runs and breaks a lot of tackles too. So just a culmination of things resulted into them relying on a run last year. But you know, undoubtedly they

have the personnel to do it. Yeah. I recall and moved the podcast when Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks were talking about how these Alabama backs that kind of filter through the system there and maybe some guys don't get enough carries, and they always say like who was the guy getting carries and the biggest spots, And it was always Josh Jacobs when he was there in college. So all that really did for the Raiders was preserved the

tread on the tires for him. We're talking Las Vegas Raiders almost at Oakland there here with Ted Wyn, he works for the Athletic Covers the NFL. There's a great job there on Twitter, a couple of podcasts as well, and Ted you mentioned the beef on the offensive line. My goodness, it kind of reminds me of what Miami's doing up front this year by all the girth they

added along the offensive line. But I want to flip this thing over to the defensive side of the ball here and talk about a guy who I was a big fan of coming out of Eastern Michigan. You wouldn't assume you would be a big fan of a player coming from a school like that, but he had a really big rookie year. I think it was fifth round draft pick. Correct me if I'm wrong. Should we expect him to play at that level again? And can Cleland

Farrell get on that level? And just kind of talk about this defensive line forest ed Um, Yeah, I mean Cleveland Farrell was a big surprise getting picked as high as he did. He was kind of seen as a mid mid first round draft pick, late first round draft pick. But I mean, he he you know, he's he was good against the run. You know, maybe he works really hard. He did have to deal with some sickness and weight

gain issues during his rookie year. Uh that they played they played him inside a little bit where I thought he you know, he he said he was, Um, I don't think he was as comfortable in that role. And we'll see what happened this year when he has an offseason really work on his body at focus playing on the edge. But he just was a bit of a disappointment being picked that high, especially when you see what Brian Burns and Josh Allen was doing with the Jaguars.

Uh So Crosby was a surprised by you know, like you said, it's kind of weird to say, you know, you're a big fan of him, but when you watch his film coming out of college, he was just he just jumped off the film. He was so explode us if uh you know, his hands looked sort of funny at times, but they were they were active and um, you just saw that that short air quickness that a lot of great pass switchers have and translated to a

huge rookie season for him. And and the Raiders were really fortunate to hit hit on Prosby because uh, Ferrell was just wasn't very productive in his uh his first year. Um and Maurice Hurst also played really well towards the end of last season, and they added Malik Collins, who has a really high pressure rate from the Dallas Cowboys that he should improve the interior rush for the Raiders. Help refreshment memory here. Maurice Hurst fell on the draft

because of some medical concerns. Right, Yes, he fell fell in draft because of a heart condition. He was seen as a first round um guy before that. Some people thought, you know, he was a really high I thought he should have been really high draft pick. Uh. Some people thought he was more of a lower first round guy. But the consensus seemed to be that he was a first round guy who wasn't for his heart condition. Yeah.

I think that Mike Mayock and John Grew and have done a really good job of kind of rebuilding that roster into their vision. And Cleveland Ferrell, Max Crosby a couple of guys that kind of really, you know, perpetuate that vision. And and they took a lot of flak for the Khalil Mack trade, but man, they turned it down some really good players and they're continuing that this year at the second level of the defense at linebacker

via free agency. And I want to get your take on what Nick Kwitakowski and Corey Littleton can do to change the middle of that raid defense. The Raiders have neglected the inside linebacker position for a long time, and um, I can understand what you know. The inside linebacker is a position that's sort of thought of as as you know, similar running back, where it's not a high value position. But the Raiders have really neglected the inside linebacker position

for a long long time. But this year they spend big money on two uh young linebackers that are improving, that are very athletic. Nick Kwitkowski, who uh start with the Bears. He is Last year, he he started off as kind of a role player, didn't play a ton of snaps, and because of injuries, he had to play more and more and he just flashed and got better and better. And uh, he's good against the run. Everybody knew that, but then he just kept on getting better

against the pass. And I think that was one of the reasons why he was one of the hotter free agents is just he just improved so much and you have to be able to defend the pass in this league. So Kwaikowski is a guy that doesn't have a ton of good film quite yet, just because he doesn't have a lot of PT. But he did put some together some really nice games towards the end of last season. Uh, Corey Littleton's guys, that's been steadily improving. He started his

career as a special teams guy. Um and, but he's put a huge numbers. He's filled the statuet with tackles, tackle for losses, interceptions, past past defense, um and he I think he's gonna be one of the top linebackers in NFL. Uh next year. I mean he was last year, but I mean he still has some weaknesses. He's still learning the game, but I think this year's is a real breakout years. So the Raiders really improved on the second level. We talked about that Khalil Mack trade and

what they got back for and draft value. Again, similarities I think are pretty prevalent here between this Raiders team and what the Dolphins are trying to do down in Miami and two of the players they got in that Khalil Mack trade, if I'm not mistaken, or a couple of defensive backs this year with Damon Arnette or maybe he was their natural selection. You can correct me on that.

If I'm wrong. And Jonathan Abram last year, who was one of my favorite players in the entire draft because the way he plays, the temperament he plays with, he just defines silver and black football to me. The guy got kicked out of a spring game for personal fouls, are for hitting, unnecessary roughness penalties. That's just it's an awesome story to me. I don't care if he can't pronounce the word salmon, right. I love watching him play football. Is he the kind of key the catalyst coming back

to that defense this year? I think the safety position for the Raiders is not very deep and kind of unproven to Marius randall Um looks to be a starter to sign him from Cleveland, but he's kind of an up and down type of player as well. I think Jonathan Abram, unfortunately he tore his should in the first game of the season and was out for the entire season. But in camp he just he was making a lot of plays. Is always near the ball. I thought he made a lot of plays against the Rams when they

had a joint practice together. Um too, So yeah, I mean Abram looks like he has that really you know, that instinctual safety type of mold, but he hasn't proven it yet. So the safety position is just really kind of unknown for the Raiders right now. Air Harris was a starter last year. He made a lot of plays, but he again he was the up and down guy as well. Um Uh, Karl Joseph was the Raiders starter

last year. He really improved. He has a former first round pick, but they let him go in free agency. Uh So I like Abram as well, but he you know, we just haven't seen enough of him to really know what he is in this league just yet. And how about the cornerback position. They're getting Damon Arnett out of Ohio State. I love the way those guys compete there at the Horseshoe under Urban Meyer and Ryan Day this past season. He's so physical and just so aggressive in

the way he plays. Is he the top cornerback? And what do they got behind him? If he is at the top cornerback? Is Trayvon Mullein the the Raiders second

round draft picked last year out of Clemson. Um. He had a little bit of a rough camp and he was kind of forced into starting duty after Gary Conley got hurt in Week one and he got torched by Emmanuel Sanders and didn't see much playing time after that until later on in the season when they did trade away Garon Conley, and he really had a strong end of the end of the season, played well against some big time receivers can including DeAndre Hopkins. Um So, the

Raiders are really excited about Trayvon Mullen. Uh he'll be going into a second year. But they needed a starter opposite of him, and they wanted to get Byron Jones. They wanted to find a top corner, but they couldn't find one free agency, but they did end up signing um Prince of Mamura from the Bears and drafting Damon Arnette. So Damon Arnette and Prince, I'm like screwing up his last game right now, Maca Mara. They're gonna be competing for that last starting spot, so we'll see what happens

with that. But I love our Nets film to kind of like Abrahams. He looks like one of those defensive backs that just love being annoying, and I think that's a great trait to have as a defensive back. Um So, our Nett was a bit of surprise to me. I mean, he was a surprised to me being drafted in the first round just because of his poor measurables in the combine,

and measurables are very important for a cornerback. But there's all sorts of stories that are coming out now that he might have been hurt during that forty or they might have missed. I'm at forty, but you know, that was sort of a big deal. H So we'll see what happens with that with that competition. But Trayvon Mullen is the top corner for the Raiders. Jonathan Abram is that kid on the basketball court that wouldn't even look

at the ball. He would just face guard you and cover you with both of his arms sticking out the entire time, and you just by the end of the game you wanted nothing to do with that kid because he was so annoying on the basketball court. You also fit right in Ted with the mispronunciation of names. That's like my calling card here on this podcast. So you're

in good company there, my friend. So I had this in my notes, and we just got the note the news rather about a Patrick Mahomes contract extension right before we came on the air to record this podcast, and As a person that has watched Tom Brady in my division for twenty years, I'm curious to get the take of someone who is basically at the front part of that for an elite level quarterback and all time great

looking quarterback to be in your division. Is that kind of the Raiders focus for how they build this team, trying to find a way to compete with Patrick Homes and to beat him specifically. Yeah, but I mean it's so difficult to do because you he's he's making all sorts of plays that you've never seen the quarterback quite make before. If you concentrate too much on building your secondary, um, and you give him too much time, he's gonna buy time and um, he's gonna buy time and make big plays.

And if you know, you focus too much on the pass rush and you don't have the corns to cover those extremely fast Kansas City receivers, you're screwed. And you know, if you have a really strong defense and you don't have the offense to keep up with Patrick Mahomes, because he always eventually finds the way to score some points, um, then you know you're screwed too. So, I mean, I understand why they gave him the biggest you know, possibly it's gonna be the biggest contract, And in NFL history.

He's just so dangerous of a player, and he's done so much and just you know, his two years starting already having a for Bowls. So yeah, watching him first hand, and man, this year he went to Oakland, the last game of the Chiefs played the Raiders in Oakland. It looked like the Raiders had a chance in the first quarter. Uh, they're playing him tough, and all of a sudden, he

just you know, comes out. I think they scored like twenty eight points of the second quarter or something like that, and it was just ridiculous watching him throw these bombs off his back foot, and I was just like, man, this guy is just insane. He literally needs one quarter to beat you. And we kind of saw in the Super Bowl to the Chief's offense not really getting things

cranking early on. Then he comes out in the second half and just rolls it up on the Niners and goes out and gets himself a championship in a year where he threw half as many touchdown passes as he did in the previous year. So dangerous guy, dangerous player. We're not talking about the Chiefs here, though. I want to finish up this podcast with one more question for you. Actually check that I have two questions. We'll get to

the playoff question here in just one second. Give us a player on this Raiders roster that the casual fan maybe doesn't know about or maybe should know about. This kind of under the radar. Who is the Raiders big time unsung star on that football team? You know? I think Maurice Hearst is a guy that doesn't get a lot of love. I think defensive tackle numbers are hard to judge at times. I mean, everybody's judging you off

Aaron Donald. But I think Hearst is a guy that gets consistent interior pressure, and I think he's gonna have a much bigger year this year if especially if the edge pressure proves a little bit. So I keep my eye on hers. I think he's in line for I don't know if he's gonna put up monster numbers, but I think he's in line for a pretty solid season

for the Raiders. Anytime you have a player that draft the drops in the draft for a reason pretty much out of his control, I always find myself really rooting for that guy, so really rooting for ma Reice Hearse

and his career. Last question I have for you here, the Raiders are a playoff team, and if and you fill in the blank, if the defense plays at an average level, I mean the Raiders defense has been just terrible, like bottom of the league for so long that if this defense even plays at an average level, I think offensively they have enough to be a playoff team. I mean it's hard to play the style of offense they want to play if teams are just you know, rolling

and scoring twenty eight points before you can blink an eye. So, um, if the Raiders defense plays at an average level, it stops offenses here and you know here and there. Not much to ask, but uh yeah, it's just the defense has been so bad for so long that just some approvements on that side, I think it would be a huge, huge boost for the Raiders. Yeah, you mentioned the style

of player they want to play with. It's it's so unique in the NFL these days to have a solid, strong starting five on the offensive line, something the Raiders certainly haven't. Can build around that on offense. He is ted Wyn. You can find his work up on the athletic NFL. He also hosts the State of the Nation podcast and run the Film podcast, and you can find him on Twitter at fb Underscore Film Analysis on Twitter. Ted,

thanks a whole lot, man, I appreciate your time. Thanks for having me on, and away he goes another a f C West team on the Dolphins schedule. The two road teams now in the books. We have gone over the Broncos last week. We have the Raiders up on this episode. We've covered the Patriots, the Bills, and JAG's gonna work on getting the Seahawks and Niners, Chargers, Rams, Cardinals, Jets the rest of the teams on this Dolphin schedule here in the Know the Enemy series. We have the

written content up on Miami Dolphins dot com. I believe we are through September and October on the written portions, taking in depth look at these teams as we get closer and closer to the start of the NFL season and training camp and all that fun stuff ahead. But as for today's edition of the Drive Time podcast, that is gonna be my time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, podcast, Spotify, tuned in, wherever you get your podcast from Go ahead and subscribe,

rate and review the show. Give me a follow on Twitter. It's at Wingfield, NFL. Follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins. Check out The fish Tank and the Audible podcast. We had a new episode of The fish Tank with Ray Lucas up on Tuesday, and of course Miami Dolphins dot com Until next time finds up