*The Only* Raiders Training Camp Preview You Need (DETAILED BREAKDOWN)

That's right ladies and gentlemen. Training camp is right around the corner which means we've got to break it down. I'm not talking on the dance floor although I do like to dance. I probably danced in a couple of these videos. I think I danced in my last video did I? Maybe it was a different channel. My movie channel. Check that out link in the description below. Anyway I digress. I've got a traffic that has my top 10 most impactful X-Factor Raider players going into training camp. We're going to spend a couple minutes maybe 5 maybe 10 on each player. There's 10 of them. So this video could be 30 minutes long could be a half hour long. I have no idea how long this breakdown is going to be. All I know is that it's going to be an absolute treat for me to do for you to watch and to consume. And I want to see your lists down below. Let me know who you think is going to be the most impactful training camp participants for this upcoming season. Now when I compiled the list my reasoning my thought process for making the list was as follows. I wanted to take the most important players besides Fernanda Mendoza or Kirk Cousins. We'll spend some time on them at the end of the video. We know the quarterbacks most important position. I wanted to take the most 10 the 10 most important players in my opinion to this roster to be able to make a leap that we don't think we are capable of making currently. We think we're going to be better obviously. But this roster as currently constructed is not ready to compete for like a really important playoff spot or win the Super Bowl right. We're just looking to be better, competent, competitive. Not a lot of I've been talking about this a lot all year. All pros. The path to all pros. Maybe look at this list as if this player became an all pro this roster could be way better than the media is perceiving us to be even we're perceiving ourselves to be. And it starts well I don't want to give away exactly how many you know specific position groups are on the list. There's multiples of each but I go 10 to 1 and I rank them in terms of likelihood to have an impact mixed with necessity for them to be impactful. So towards the bottom of the list and again this is 10 players out of 52 so these are all important players. Toward the bottom of the list are players that I think if they had an impact would be massive. Do I expect them to? Maybe not a huge impact. Can they? Yeah but it's not as likely as some of the people above and beyond on the top of the list and I think I teed it up perfectly. So as I transition to the graphic here you're gonna see mostly a black screen and my face and then you're gonna see the 10th player and then we're gonna go to 9 and then the 8 so the black screen will fill with the entire graphic. So as I transition to number 10 make sure you're commenting about my list and about your own list of people that need to step up for us to be able to have a legitimate chance at a playoff spot at surprising people. And again you can say like Ashling Gent needs to step up, Brock Bowers needs to step up obviously but those people we expect to have really great phenomenal seasons. These players are kind of in the weeds but also kind of need to show up in a big way for us to supersede expectations. The number 10 player in my opinion that needs to, that if he did, that might have an impact on this season is Malik Benson. So now as we transition back here and by the way I have a whole graphic here you know I'm gonna, no I'm not gonna flash it but I have a whole graphic here that shows like you know his PFF grade and their stats and blah blah blah but he's a rookie so there's nothing here about Malik Benson. We know he was taken in the sixth round of the draft and reports are that Malik Benson has shown a little something that he's kind of pushing on the doorway of Dante Thornton's reps in live games. But here's the problem about reports coming out of OTAs, involuntary minicamp, about the super, about the no no no no hold on let me figure out the right word here about the surprise super but the surprise impact that Malik Benson is having so far. We heard the exact same thing about Dante Thornton and then when Dante put the pads on we still kind of heard that he was really good and then he started and then had a decent impact in week one and then fell off a cliff. Now we know last year the wide receiver room in particular was impacted by the quarterback play, the lack of a running game, Chip Kelly's horrific Frankenstein offense. It was a nightmare for all the wide receivers last year there's no doubt about that. But Dante still didn't look very comfortable out there. Malik Benson so far the reports are that he's shown a level of comfort. Now here's where we have to have perspective like we didn't have with Dante like we need to have with Malik. Malik Benson was drafted in the sixth round. As much as we loved him enough to take him we didn't love him enough to take him in any of our previous what nine picks that we had before round six. There's a chance that he doesn't make the roster. There's a chance that in three years we forget that he even existed which is why he's 10th on the list. But when you look at that wide receiver room it's lacking for that guy. Go up and get it. I'm gonna catch this ball no matter what. Devontae Adams, Puka Nakua, AJ Brown, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase. Do I expect Malik Benson to have an Antonio Brown like explosion in terms of like a late round wide receiver coming on and being one of the best receivers in the league? No I do not. But if the reports are to be believed and if the reports are any indication of what he can do on the field a sixth round draft pick making an impact on special teams in the slot over the top is going to help us get to where we need to be rebuild wise way faster than we thought. And Malik Benson to me is not only key because a he's a young player that is in a position of need for us but B is gonna light a fire under these other wide receivers. Every single one on the roster. Trey Tucker, Jack Bash, Jalen Ayler, Dante Thornton, Cedric Jackson all these guys that are perceived to be better than Malik Benson forgive me if I'm leaving anybody out there I feel like I'm already forgetting somebody but all these guys that are perceived to be better than Malik Benson are going to be shaking in their boots if Malik Benson goes out in the preseason he's gonna play a lot in the preseason and continues to make plays. They'll be good teammates but at the back of their mind Dante Thornton and Jack Bash are going oh we're gonna get B out by a sixth round rookie? And another thing to consider Malik Benson last year was playing in more high-pressure games than Jack Bash was or Dante Thornton because TCU and Tennessee respectfully aren't Oregon. And Malik Benson was buried in that depth chart as a as a player for the Oregon Ducks but once they lost their top two wide receivers Malik Benson came in and was instantly their number one. So who's to say what kind of draft pick he would have been definitely higher in the sixth round if he was just that number one feature wide receiver on that team. Now he wasn't able to beat those two guys out. Will he beat our two guys out? Only time will tell but Malik Benson getting pretty good reports out of training camp thus far is what you want to hear and if he continues to take those next steps with the pads on he's gonna have a major impact and that's going to be surprising people didn't see coming which is gonna be a theme with this list a lot of time. So that's one wide receiver and as we trickle up the list here we have Tonka Hemingway a PFF grade of 37.6. The line of demarcation is that little dashed white line that's league average. Tonka Hemingway had four sacks in nine games last year as a rookie. He was drafted in the fourth round at 135 overall. I think for a fourth round rookie that was also drafted with J.J. Bikese that also had to deal with reps from Thomas Booker and Adam Butler. For him to have four sacks in nine games either played or started that's pretty impressive and a lot of people expected us myself included I said Caleb Banks in the second round people call me crazy to say second round then he got drafted 18th overall I digress. We all thought we were going to address the defensive tackle position a lot earlier than the last pick that we had in the draft of Brandon Cleveland and I thought yeah they were gonna take a defensive tackle but also when I looked at the roster I also thought there's a lot of defensive tackle promise and potential on this roster and Tonka Hemingway is one of those guys like I said in just nine games he's either played or started. He had four sacks as a rookie. I think correct me if I'm wrong let me google this I'm pretty sure Khalil Mack's rookie year he only had four and a half sacks. Khalil Mack rookie stats. Khalil Mack as a rookie he had 84 combined tackles 59 solo 25 assistant and four sacks. He had four sacks as a rookie year. Now the counter to that was well Rodney Tonka Hemingway had the benefit of Max Crosby taking a lot of double and triple teams. Not for those last few games and a lot of Tonka's success came in those last few games where Max Crosby was famously pulled you know because they didn't want to play it anymore. We need somebody in that defensive tackle group and I'll just tease that he's not the only defensive tackle to be on this list that I've made on this graphic. We need one of these guys to step up and be at least league average because we finally have some cavalry on the opposite side of Max with Keiron with Quitty with Malcolm Koontz one of those three is gonna be on this list I'll let you decide who that is in the comments make your predictions. But in the middle we don't have that dominant presence and again this is my list of if they were to take the leap this could be a game changer mixed with a sneaky little sprinkle of can this guy take the leap? Obviously Malik Benson would be crazy to become an All-Pro player at this moment in our lives Friday July 17th 2026 but Tonka Hemingway should at least be as good as he was last year. Four sacks a couple batted balls some solo tackles maybe a forced fumble or two but if he can get to like six and a half seven sacks think about that. Can Tonka Hemingway get three more sacks than he did last year? I think the answer to that is it's on the board it's possible which makes him a much more important piece to the puzzle than I think some people are thinking about because you're thinking about Ashton Gentry and Fernando Mendoza of course you should be thinking about those guys. So as we transition here to number eight on the list I do want to just mention about 50% of the people watching this video are not yet subscribed to the channel and at this channel on this channel you're getting you're getting what are we gonna get here 50-minute breakdown of training camp we're trying to hit 17,000 subscribers it's free hit that button share with your friends hit that you know hit that Bell whatever the Bell does and we're gonna continue to number eight which is another defensive attack Adam Butler one sack 15 games played 53.8 PFF grade almost dang near league average I have Adam Butler slightly ahead of Tonka Hemingway for this reason Adam Butler has been a very solid player for us these last few seasons and a few years ago he actually had a decent amount of sacks I think he had like six and a half or something like that sacks correct me if I'm wrong last year was a bit of an up-and-down season but it was a bit of an up-and-down season for all of us and you have to understand something when you're not competitive the teams you're playing against run the ball a lot if they're beating the ---- out of you they don't have to pass the ball put their quarterback in harm's way and I do believe we are going to be playing in closer games this year than we did last year which means we're going to have more opportunities to sack the quarterback Max Crosby obviously is going to be there and he's going to garner a lot of attention a lot of double-teams a lot of chips on the other side like I said Keiron Crawford and then Malcolm Koontz and Quiddy Paye in the middle Tonka Hemingway JG Peguis Thomas Booker Brandon Cleveland Adam Butler is technically the best player of that bunch he could have been the main reason why John Spytek and company didn't go out and really sign any defensive tackle free agents other than bringing some guys back or drafting someone higher than Brandon Cleveland in the seventh round Adam Butler could be one of these sneaky late Danico Autry esque bloomers that if we were to let him go he's gonna go to the 49ers and have a nine and a half sack season and then we're holding our hands in our head I can't believe he wasn't this good with us what's because we aren't good enough to let our defense flourish we're always getting the ball run against us and the reason why I have Adam Butler slightly ahead of Tonka in terms of importance is because I think right now Adam Butler of all the defensive tackles is the most polished most seasoned most well-rounded most impactful defensive tackle on our squad Tonka I think could outtake him to be that starting nose especially because we're transitioning to that 3-4 we'll see what Robbie Leonard really want really wants to do with this defense but we need one of these defensive tackles to step up I don't believe I have any more on this list which means that these are the two guys to me to keep an eye on the most in training camp when we're getting tweets about the starting offensive and defensive lines I want to see who's getting the bulk of the reps with two hands on the dirt is it Tonka is it Adam is it a third party that I'm not giving enough credit to me Adam Butler could be the breakout star of the interior defensive line if everything else comes together if Robbie Leonard's good if the offense is actually keeping us competitive in games and if Max Crosby is healthy and on the field for the whole season the sky could be the limit for somebody like the Tonka Hemingway but more so for an Adam Butler so we're three people down I need to take a little drink of water and to me I think we're firing on all cylinders with this video so if you hit that like button I would really appreciate it again let me know your thoughts below about this list in general number seven now we're getting interesting DP Darian Porter three passes defended no interceptions 19 receptions allowed on his targets he was drafted in the third round 68th overall just a tick better than Adam Butler was last year close to league average to me I'm a Darian Porter believer that PFF grade shows a lot to me the fact that he was technically graded higher than Adam Butler excuse me who's been one of our most reliable defenders as a rookie Darian Porter shows a lot they put him out there early and often against some of the best receivers in the league and that was a trial by fire sometimes he got cooked but sometimes he made some really good plays and we know that on the other side it's going to be Stokes and we know that Jermod McCoy if he's healthy along with Hezekiah masses are going to push Darian Porter to his limits but that's why I think I believe in him because last year when he faced a ton of adversity he bounced back there was a world where he could have been super discouraged and the second half of the season could have been a disaster but his second half of the season was much better than his first half and again it's kind of hard to judge a lot of these rookies last year especially on defense because there were times we were getting blown out and they were just running the ball against us a lot Darian Porter to me is the most important cornerback in this room I would love to say it's Jermod McCoy but I just don't know right now if I can completely trust he's going to be healthy I need to see him play like a full season for me to say yeah I believe he's going to be on the field I have hope I feel hopeful about it right now I'm more 51% than 49% that he's going to have a successful career from everything that the doctors have said but they're gonna be safe with him so then you look around the room and you go okay who's gonna be the guy to step up and to me it's DP he was a third round pick last year some people argue was he a Pete Carroll draft pick was a John Spytic draft pick all I know is this his PFF grade was almost league average for a third round rookie on a really bad defense sometimes they played above their potential but overall I'm excited to see what someone of his athleticism and his physique can do in this system and again we're looking for younger guys typically on this list that if they take the lead can transform this team because as good as Eric Stokes is we need someone even better than him and maybe Jermond McCoy has the biggest ceiling but Darion Porter is healthy currently and has a full season under his belt is a hard worker he's going in front of a mic which means he's got a good head on his shoulders and a third round pick should become a decent starter in this league if you know what you're doing as a GM which leads me to believe that Darion Porter could have a big season and again it all starts in training camp so right now after I reveal my sixth most important player we're about halfway through this list so you need to be letting me know in the comments below how you feel about this list we're gonna get to somebody now I think people are pretty excited about as I reveal them you will see oh no I was wrong about who this was I don't know if a lot of people are excited with Spencer Burford some people might be confused that I even have him on this but he started 11 games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2025 21 pressures allowed and essentially a league average PFF grade why do I have Spencer Burford on this list over I think any other offensive lineman well here's the deal something is going weird with JPJ I don't know if it's his attitude I don't know if he's misunderstood I don't know if he is just not healthy but there always seems to be something going on with it maybe this is the year where it all comes to fruition but let's just pretend for some reason he's not playing either they traded him he got hurt again he did something silly whatever I'm not rooting for that I'm not even predicting that that's going to happen but it's again on the board that JPJ isn't available because he's struggled to be available for the longest time then you start going down the list of guys on this roster and this is what I did with Adam Butler you go Charles Grant young kid Caleb Rodgers young kid Trey Zune rookie Linder bombs your center Grant and and Colton Miller are your tackles Jordan Meredith Spencer Burford Spencer Burford started 11 games for a playoff team last year that is not to be understated had a league average guard grade that's better than Alex Kappa or whoever else was playing guard for us last year that's better than Jordan Meredith was at center I believe there's a world where if JPJ isn't healthy or they don't want to play him for whatever reason if he's traded and the young Bucks are still not ready to go Spencer Burford all of a sudden becomes the most important player on this offensive line there's a world in which Spencer Burford and JPJ are both on the field at the same time because I believe DJ Glaze is going to be your right tackle I believe Colton Miller is gonna be your left tackle I believe Tyler Linder bombs are going to be your center the two guard spots are wide open one of those guard spots maybe goes to Charles Grant Caleb Rodgers the other guard spot goes to JPJ but Spencer Burford again there's a theme here is the seasoned veteran but now what's interesting is that he's come in to do the reverse of Malik Benson Malik Benson is here to push all the not older guys but people have been here at least one year more than him Spencer Burford is here to push the younger kids a la Kirk Cousins of Fernando Mendoza Charles Grant Caleb Rodgers JPJ you're not just gonna come in and win your job because we just brought somebody who started 11 games for Christian McCaffrey Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan I believe that Spencer Burford could be in the starting rotation and we're going to learn that in training camp probably the most controversial player on my list because people probably aren't excited to talk about the guard position but the offensive line is just so close to being like back to decent it's not exactly Donald Penn and Kolechios Emily and Gabe Jackson or Rodney Hudson but it's there man we have the center I think we have two tackles we just need to figure out that guard spot and again maybe it's Trezune maybe it's one of these young guys maybe it is JPJ but the safest smartest option at this point might be Spencer Burford which is why I have him on this list as X-Factors going into training camp and I think again look out for the tweets from people that are there saying this is the current starting offensive line rotation I think as of right now Spencer Burford might be one of the betting favorites to be one of the top five linemen that are going to start this season just something to keep an eye on that that's a little that's a little yeah he's gonna be an X-Factor and a little keep an eye on Spencer Burford to actually start this season okay we're halfway through no ad read here I just wanted to let you know patreon.com backslash all aboard Raiders here's my five and ten of our patrons and YouTube members get your name at the end of the credits exclusive content you get ad free content you get videos like this days in advance I'm recording this Friday night I don't know if it's going up on Saturday Sunday haven't made my mind up yet also Instagram's up there you can give me a follow you can DM me a question I might answer live on the show also my discord link the description below is completely free it's a big group chat with all of us we're talking in there all the time make sure you're in there was this the person I was talking about that has people really excited number five no it's not him either okay Dante Thornton jr. I have him ahead of Malik Benson last year 10 receptions 135 yards no touchdowns fourth round rookie 108 overall Dante Thornton I'm really struggling with because the reports were so good with him last year and his frame is ideal for that X wide receiver and I'm just fantasizing pause about the idea of Clint Kubiak unlocking the potential of this kid the issue that I'm running into with him is that when I watched him on the field he just did not look comfortable catching the ball creating separation I have him smack dab in the middle of the list because I think he's the perfect archetype to have on a list like this X factors that can completely change the outlook of your team coming in the training camp people around me have said they've talked to him and and and that that Clint Kubiak really believes in him and wants him to be a part of this team he's been working really hard I think he's a good kid I know he's a good kid I know he's a hard worker that sometimes always doesn't make everything right Clint Kubiak is the wide receiver whisperer I think that's safe to say and if he can unlock Dante Thornton to be an 80 catch guy this it could change everything it could change everything and I'm not ready to write him off yet because I do believe a large part of why he didn't work last year was due to the circumstances around him correct me if I'm wrong but even think he like referenced it like it didn't even feel like last year's my rookie year this feels like this year is my rookie year Fernando Mendoza Kirk Cousins too but Fernando Mendoza is known for what that back shoulder fade the 50-50 ball my guy or nobody else and other than Brock Bowers Dante Thornton jr. can be that security blanket that Michael Crabtree that just give me a chance I'm gonna put my hands on the ball and I'm gonna bring it down and training camp is where we'll know if he's the real deal or not if he's even getting reps with this with the ones because right now you would assume that above him in the depth chart is at least Trey Tucker and Jalen Naylor I would guess that Jack Bech is above him too and honestly right now I think him and Malik Benson are even keel on even playing fields which means he's gonna have to show up in training camp and in the preseason and if he doesn't then forget it it was it was a myth it was a miss now it was a fourth round miss again perspective the reports made us kind of think of him as like a top 10 pick we were like man Dante better show up this year we were drafted him in sleeper leagues and then he kind of fell flat but he was a fourth round draft pick same thing with Malik Benson I'm not expecting him to go out there and light the world on fire doesn't matter how good the minicamp reports are because he was a six round pick but Dante has all the physical traits to be elite in this league and if you want to talk about the path to all pros there is no more important person in my humble opinion in the wide receiver room than Dante Thornton and some other people on this list that might we might be talking about in a little bit here holy moly we're cooking with gasoline we are cooking with gasoline by the way he didn't make enough plays to even qualify to have a PFF grade if you're wondering why there was no PFF grade there number four another wide receiver Jalen Naylor and oh our first green PFF grade sixty seven point one above league average 29 receptions four hundred and forty four yards four touchdowns for the Minnesota Vikings in 2025 now I've spoken a lot in this video already about Jack or not Jack Bash about Malik Benson and Dante Thornton and even other people on this list that aren't wide receivers I've said if this happens then this happens if this happens then that happens and I could see a world where and it's on the board if if this guy blah blah blah Jalen Naylor is the first person I'm taking official stock in and saying and telling you I believe he's going to take a big leap this year obviously you have you know the idea that he was buried at a team he was clearly the third best wide receiver obviously Justin Jefferson's better obviously Jordan Addison is better but when JJ went down and Addison was not on the field all the time as well the Vikings still had success passing the football because of Jalen Naylor and with the history of the Raiders and I'm not saying because the Raiders have a history of this means this will happen these are different regimes and quarterbacks and players I'm just saying we've had players in the past that have come to us and had career years a la Michael Crabtree a la Nelson Aguilar I only bring that up to remind you that it is very much possible and it's easier to find a Nelson Aguilar type resurgence than it is to find a Rich Gannon type resurgence and Jalen Naylor I truly believe is going to have a big impact on this offense I actually think Jalen Naylor is going to be the number one wide receiver on this offense with Trey Tucker being that number two the reason why obviously other than he was buried on the Vikings depth chart is because of something I said earlier do you remember what it was? Clint Kubiak is the wide receiver whisperer got the best out of Justin Jefferson got the best out of Chris Olave got the best out of J.S.N. and other ancillary secondary players on the Seattle Seahawks he doesn't run a traditional offense in terms of this guy's the X this guy's a Y this guy's a Z one tight end one running back blah blah blah blah but he also doesn't run the Josh McDaniels this is my way or the absolute highway Hunter Renfro you're gonna do what I want and I'm gonna turn you into nothing burger even though you just came off a hundred yard reception thousand yard season Clint Kubiak on paper and when he runs his offenses is the perfect blend of I have my philosophy but I want to get the best out of my players and we know this because he's been in multiple different areas and had success it's not like a Josh McDaniels who's only had success with one team Clint Kubiak has had success with Justin Jefferson J.S.N. Chris Olave all these different players who are much different stylistically and they gave Jalen Naylor a decent amount of money a three-year window which means that at some point they still want him here when Fernando Mendoza is eventually starting whether that's next year or the year after and John Spytik has made this very clear he likes the wide receiver room a lot is that the ego getting in the way or is that he knows something that we don't and if it's Jalen Naylor then I guess I know something that he also knows then maybe the rest of us don't now a lot of people are hiring Jalen Naylor I'm not breaking any news here but like I said this is the first player on the roster that I think not only can but will have a bigger impact which unlocks a part of this offense that is to be lacking a little bit the wide receiver room I've got I've already mentioned one two three three wide receivers on this list for a reason the wide receiver room is the most important position to find a diamond in the rough I don't know where that player is coming from but to me if you told me like where do you place your bets on you know a wide receiver all of a sudden becoming like whoa do we need to pick up Jalen Naylor like week two waivers like right now or somebody like Jalen Naylor it is Jalen Naylor to me he is he is the key to the success of the offense in terms of I think it's most likely to be him which is maybe a good time for me to ask you because we have our lists and my number one doesn't mean most likely my number 10 doesn't mean least likely it's just it's kind of an amalgamation of everything give me your player right now who you think is going to shock the world quote-unquote and become that guy that Nelson Aguilar for us that guy that we picked up off the scrapheap that all of a sudden boom has turned into a really legitimate impact player that defense is now at the game plan for with Brock Bowers with Ashton Gente with you know a better quarterback under center I want to see I'm gonna read those comments I read them all man I read them all we're in the top three this is interesting let's just take into account what we've got so far here we've got one two three wide receivers we've got two defensive tackles we've got a corner we've got a guard again I said we'll talk about Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousin at the end of this video they're not on this list because they supersede every list I think that's silly to just make a list of the most important Raiders Brock Ashton Fernando Max like we got it we got it you don't watch a lot of Raider games number three yellow Trayden Stukes four picks six passes defended 52 tackles second round pick 38 overall the pick that had hundreds of mock draft itis suffering brain saying what a bad pick because I didn't mock him in one of my 10 mock drafts that I posted on YouTube Trayden Stukes is a very good player this reminds me of the Trayvon Merrick pick that the pick that we made also in the second round and what 2021 is a million I don't even know when that was anymore time is a flat circle Trayden Stukes I believe do I believe yeah I believe is going to be the most impactful rookie this season over Fernando Mendoza because I don't think Fernando Mendoza gonna play that much I think Kirk Cousin is gonna be pretty decent and it's gonna take a lot for this regime to put Kirk Cousins excuse me well to put Kirk Cousins on the bench for Fernando Mendoza in the game I believe Trayden Stukes could be in the running for rookie of the year I believe Trayden Stukes could be a top 10 safety in this league as a rookie I believe watching him speak especially in that behind the shield video kind of sold me on everything the talent is there if you're drafted in the second round and every draft expert and every guy on ESPN and Fox Sports and whatever whatever you watch but bleach report listen to read said yeah this guy has first and second round talent all it takes is hard work dedication and the right head on your shoulders to be a very good player in this league so what's stopping Trayden Stukes from being a good player in this league the coaching the coaching would be the only thing Max Crosby swears by Robbie Leonard some people think the only reason that we hired him is to keep Max in the building or whatever no that wasn't the case it was just happenstance with all that being said again it's really hard for defensive players have an impact especially young defensive players when you're not in football games and you're just getting the ball run down your throat that's not going to be the case this year I do think that we're gonna be pretty competitive which means you're gonna let some of these young guys shine now he's gonna make mistakes back there but he's next to Jeremy Chin and Isaiah Polamau and his running buddy and Dallin Johnson at Arizona so they've kind of laid this perfect groundwork for him to be comfortable for him not to have everything on his shoulders for him to have his buddy his running mate Dallin Johnson next to him and to have the leadership of something like a Jeremy Chin who is really good player Isaiah Polamau not great last year but he's still a really good person to have around in the locker room it's a good teammate he's got the blood of you know Troy Polamau in his veins that helps too I really do believe Trayden Stukes is gonna have a big impact on this season and in training camp I think you're gonna hear a lot about him keep an eye on the safety position in particular because when it's all said and done this season our best safety might end up being the one that we drafted in the second round and I'm seeing as I turn to look back here it starts to spin again so what's that about you saw that right when I do this when I'm looking at you he's like not spinning and then I go here and then he picks up the pace it's like he's sentient and it's getting a little scary so I'm just gonna pretend like I don't see it and we're look at him you see that whatever we're just gonna move on I'm not gonna look at that anymore Trayden Stukes coming in number three coming in at number two another wide receiver Jack Besh no grade didn't make an impact last year second round pick 58th overall we traded back a thousand times to draft Jack Besh I need to lean back for this one because I want to speak directly into the camera when I say this Jack Besh needs to be good he needs to be good no offense or buts about it because up until this point John Spytek has had a pretty good track record in my opinion of drafting of financial footwork of free agency of not panicking when the Max Crosby trade didn't go through which by the way was a phenomenal trade for us I like that he is aggressive and trading back and still being able to get the guys they want but you traded back like two or three times the draft Jack Besh and to me it seems like that was a John Spytek pick I know Pete Carroll liked it Pete Carroll liked all the picks you don't know who who was what pick we don't know you don't know we don't know but if this guy isn't good that's going to be a severe blemish on John Spytek if you're rebuilding especially now with the young quarterback and you're whiffing on second-round picks that ain't it now I really believe in trading Stukes I believe in him more than Jack Besh but the reason I put Jack Besh at two is because to me he is the most important wide receiver on this team I might have said something similar about Dante Thorin but that's because of the capabilities of Dante's body he's just bigger and stronger and faster than everyone or maybe not stronger not yet but everything I heard about Jack Besh is that he's a possession wide receiver and he's a tough SOB who likes to block which means that if he can get on the field to make plays as a wide receiver what is it also going to do for our offense what did I say he likes to what block if he's on the field more than Dante Thorin and Malik Benson we have a better chance for Ash and Denti to have a successful season because Jack Besh is the best blocking wide receiver on the team and if he's not that good at doing anything else besides blocking every time he comes on the field people are gonna be like it's a run play they ain't throwing to Jack Besh now the difference between Jack and Dante is at times I felt like I saw Jack Besh be comfortable on an NFL field he made some plays he looked like a body that belonged out there and man I'm rooting for him because his story is so good and man I don't want John Spicett to make such a bad pick in the second round but the reality is he did not have an impact last year now I talked about how bad everything else was around him just like with Dante so it's not all on him and maybe it's really not any part on him because he looked way more gullible than Dante did to begin with but in order for us to have any chance at taking a big enough leap offensively to be taken seriously he needs to be the guy because I do believe Jalen's gonna step up Trey's gonna be Trey Trey's gonna do his thing he's gonna have 60-ish catches for 800-ish yards a couple touchdowns couple ender rounds maybe a punt return Jalen's gonna do his thing if we have that third wide receiver now we are developing some depth which is what the great teams have average to good teams have surface level players and nothing underneath great teams have good players starting and then good players underneath think about the Green Bay Packers have wide receiver on top of wide receiver on top of wide receiver none of them are great but all of them are good enough for them to always get like 10 wins they have a good running back they have a decent quarterback and all of a sudden they're just always in the playoffs and to me Jack has the capabilities to take a leap and again this is going into training camp which means that you're gonna start to see very fast with the offensive line the defensive line the wide receiver room the rotations what are the rotations going to be and I think that Jack's biggest thing here is beating out everybody else besides Jalen Naylor if he can do that and get on the field it kind of proves in the belief of John Spytek which is huge and helps out the running game so much because he is such a good blocking wide receiver that wants to stick his nose in there and spring Ashton Gente and with the uncertainty of the offensive line I do think it's going to be better we're gonna need all the help that we can get and Jack to me is kind of the key to everything offensively again besides the obvious people we're not talking about Brock or Fernando or Ashton but we are getting to the number one player and as I take one of my last sips of water here I'd like to hear some predictions below by the way the train Stukes PFF grade was obviously his college PFF grade number one I feel like a guy that nobody is talking about a guy that was a first-round pick when he was drafted a guy that could be the reason the Raiders have a top 10 defense this year that not a lot of people are kind of giving the time of day but I do believe we need to be discussing him in great length because they didn't go out and sign him for no reason number one shockingly is Quiddy Peck 38 pressures four sacks 17 games for Indy last year PFF grade of almost 60 which is league average I need you to stay on target here obviously we have a bunch of young talent we made a couple free agent signings and some high status draft picks but for this defense to truly be great or for it to take a leap to take the next step into being like Oh pretty good high register right we cannot just rely on Max Crosby because I want you to think about this last year in the games that we almost won now we won three games we lost to the Broncos by two in Denver we lost to Jacksonville on a tipped extra point we're tired of lock it was wide open in the end zone or a two-point conversion excuse me plus the Chicago Bears on a blocked field goal all of these were like like 13 and up win teams right Houston Texans lost by a couple points we win those games is Pete Carroll like still the coach of this team or 7 and 10 a large part of every single one of those games all of them was Max Crosby in the Chicago Bears game he had like three passes deflected one of them was an interception that he tipped up in the air and then cocked he was absolutely destroying CJ Stroud in the Texans game that was the game that basically got us Fernando Mendoza because they're like Max you cannot play anymore he always destroys the Denver Broncos but the problem is he's doubled into a triple team so the Raiders are not just gonna rely on their third round pick here on Crawford to maybe be good well for Malcolm Koontz there was a two-year leg injury so he's gonna get back to how he was in 2023 and 2026 no they're gonna go get somebody was a former first round pick that had multiple 7 to 8 sack seasons for the Indianapolis Colts now he was playing opposite good people like DeForest Buckner but he was not playing opposite somebody with the stature of Max Crosby and this is why I highlighted the potential of the interior of the defensive line Adam Butler, Tonka Hemingway they can combine for 10 sacks like that if Max is doubled they can combine for 10 sacks which means Quidipe is on an island one-on-one and even though he hasn't lived up to the success or the hype of being a first-round talent he is shown to be pretty good again to the quarterback never playing alongside somebody like Max Crosby which is why to me if he can become one of these pro bowlers out of nowhere the Danica Rotary for us that's how the season has changed because all of a sudden you've got Max on one side you've got your rotating you know gang of interior defensive linemen on in the middle you've got Quidipe with Malcolm Koontz backing him up Keiron Crawford the Alabama kid who some people thought was better than the other Alabama guy that was drafted in the first round behind Max Crosby you've got phenomenal linebackers now the Kobe Dean and Kway Walker all of a sudden you're looking pretty scary on defense now the young Bucs behind them the people that I mentioned before Trayden Stukes, Jermall McCoy if he's on the field, Darion Porter, Eric Stokes, Jeremy Chin can play more physical can take more risks because the quarterback that we are playing doesn't have the time to throw the football and Max Crosby needs a running mate more than anything and now he might finally have one I mean this could be Max's best partner that he's had since who? Yannick Ngakwe? I mean like he's never had anybody to take the real pressure off of him which is why I think Quidipe is very important and we should be talking about him a lot more but obviously the reason we have this hope and by the way let's take it to the list one more time the reason why all these guys need to step up and the reason why we have you know a semblance of expectation for the first time in a long time is because the quarterback position now the reports are that Kirk Cousins is looking a little Minnesota Vikings-y which is pretty good compared to how he was in Atlanta he wasn't bad in Atlanta but he did seem like he was on the last legs of his career maybe you just need a little bit of energy maybe he needed the silver and black on obviously Fernando Mendoza is the most important player on the team and it seems like he's going to be pushing Kirk Cousins for everything that he has as we inch closer to week one my brain is telling me that this isn't quite the open competition that they were letting it on to be because I do understand and I kind of agree with the most important thing for Fernando right now would be to sit and wait for at least four or five games don't care if he was the first pick overall you don't just start people because they're the first pick overall don't care if you want to see it because you want to be more entertained this is an investment for a future potential franchise score but you take someone 1-1 you want them to be a hall-of-famer then you have to give him the best chance to succeed but Fernando Mendoza is going to work his butt off and when the pads come on and when that ball starts finding its way to Brock Bowers and to Jalen and handing it to Ash and Gente and if he looks good in the preseason he's gonna give Kirk Cousins a go and I truly believe that by the time training camp starts he's gonna have no issues with the footwork or the reads it's just gonna come down to can he process the game fast enough because if he can the sky's the limit for this team if he beats out Kirk Cousins and starts week one because this coaching staff has a lot of leeway a lot of runtime they don't have to panic like Robert Sala and the New York Jets to start someone or to make a huge trade for Aaron Rodgers when Kubiak has dropped security which means if he starts him all of our greatest hopes and dreams have been confirmed if he doesn't start it's kind of a win-win if he doesn't start he's not expect he's not expected to start if he does start yeah yeah speaking of yeah how do you like 52 minutes how do you like a 52 minute breakdown one more time let's look at the list before we get the heck out of here. Malik Benson at 10, Tonk at 9, Adam, Darian, Spencer referred Dante, Jalen Aylor, Trayton Stewart, Jack Fashion, Quiddy Pei, my top 10 x-factor players this has been an hour breakdown feel like it deserves maybe a like maybe a comment maybe a member to join or two a discord member for sure again all that's linked in the description below. Discord is completely free, Patreon, YouTube membership small fee but you get a bunch of cool benefits and stuff Instagram is up there like I said before hit that like button comment away and please be sure to subscribe to us for after I'm gonna charge to you I love you guys