Bech AND Thornton Return To Practice PLUS Raiders Considering Trading Cousins??

So we'll get into the actual report in a second here, but apparently there was never any serious consideration for Fernando Mendoza to start this week. It's interesting because that clearly means that they think that they can still salvage this. I mean, it is only week seven, right? It's getting a little late, a little early, but we're three and four, and if we win this game against the Jets, who are favored by a point and a half, even though they're at home, which technically means we're favored, we're four and four, and we're right in the thick of things. Now, I don't know if you've seen this stat, but we haven't won a game in New Jersey against the Jets since 2015. Can you guess who the quarterback was of the Jets in that game? Because it's pretty easy to figure out. It was Geno Smith. And I'm here to tell you in this video exactly why. And you can see from the topic bar here. The Raiders might be a little more confident going into this game. Because they're getting some reinforcements back. Some that are very important to this team. That we haven't been able to see Kling Kubiak utilize yet. Work his magic with yet. And then also, the trade deadline is fast approaching and it's not entirely off the board, according to a reputable insider in the league, that we could trade some of these guys, including Kirk Cousins. It's really crazy how the confidence that you have in your football team can switch on a dime. Because if you told me, as I checked the Cal Street markets here, that I'm seriously considering Taking the Jets in this game a couple weeks ago after coming off a back-to-back really good losses against the Chiefs, losing by three, and then against the Bills, losing by three. I would say you're crazy, but now after losing to the Rams in the way in which we did. And Klink Kubiak maybe hinting at the possibility of Fernando Mendoza. I don't know if that gives me more or less confidence in this game. I can't tell you the last time that we won a game in New York. We have success against the Jets at home, but that 10 a.m. body clock, West Coast to East Coast travel, I don't love it. I don't love it right now. If you purchase the no contract on Calci and you throw 25 on there, you win. If they don't win, you win 48. 30? Interesting, interesting. I will say this, if you are interested in checking out Kalshi, use code ALLABOARD to instantly get 25 when you trade 25. And the reason why Kalshi is so unique and better, in my opinion, than your typical sportsbook is because you're not betting against the house like you are when you use a traditional sportsbook. You are purchasing yes or no contracts, peer-to-peer trading, where we set the market on anything you can think of. Movies, TV, politics, media. If you want to purchase those contracts, Kelsey has it. So, interesting day yesterday, because Jonah Laulu gets cut. Surprising, but not surprising, because maybe coming into the season, we thought he was going to be a bigger piece to the puzzle than he ended up being. Tonka Hemingway and Adam Butler took those two spots and kind of ran with it. And Tonka really has made a significant impact since coming back, and I'm happy that he is back. Hopefully that can get the defense going a little bit because the thing with this defense was it was a defense that was giving up a lot of yards and a lot of points, but it was also sacking the quarterback and turning the ball over. And with Tonka back yesterday, both of those, or yesterday, last Sunday, both of those two things started to happen. I'm not saying he's the reason for the Matthew Stafford interception, but he was out there. I believe he recorded a sack or he made a big play in the backfield at some point. Maybe that'll help Max get going, right? But, when they ended up cutting Jonah Laulu, people were like, are we making a trade for DeForest Buckner, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, it ended up being Dante's roster spot. Quickly on the Quentin Nelson-DeForest Buckner thing, it would have been nice to have them, but we're not buyers right now at this current moment. We're holding out hope that we can keep all our draft picks and still be able to maneuver away into being in the hunt for a couple of these games. And then you've got another gauntlet coming up. This is always going to be a hard schedule, right? But Dante is back. And I'm torn about Dante being back because there's a world where he instantly becomes, if you're not counting Brock Bowers or Ashton Gentry, what, our second best receiver. Jalen Naylor has been a non-factor. Cody White's been a nice story. Dariq Young has not been good. He's not supposed to be a really good wide receiver. And Trey Tucker's been really good. That's not great. And Malik Benson's been nothing. He's been good in special teams, but nothing on offense. Dante coming back and immediately being your second best wide receiver is not a recipe for success. However, there is no argument against the idea that Klink Kubiak has been able to squeeze the juice out of a ton of players this year that we weren't getting last year. I would say everybody offensively that we had last year is better this year, including the linemen who haven't been great, but at least we've been able to have a chance in pass protection. Michael Mayer's been better. Brock Bowers is better than he was last year. Ashton Gentry receiving the ball is definitely better than he was last year. Talking about pass catchers. Trey Tucker is definitely leveled up here. It also helps to have a quarterback that's a little bit better than Geno, in my opinion, and Kirk Cousins right now. So I do believe that Clint Kubiak might be able to find a way to get Dante into space because his trouble has been his whole career separation. Do I expect him to have, like, an immediate impact on this game? I don't. Number one, because this is his first game in however many months it's been. His first game action. I know he took a little bit to ramp up and get going. But also he didn't make any impact last year. So it's hard for me to sit here and do the Raider thing that we do where we're like, okay, we got Dante back and now the offense is going to step up to another level and the run game is going to open and you got Trey and you got Dante and you got Brysley. Dante's name so far does not belong in the names or with the names of the other people on the roster who have been making a consistent impact. I do believe in Clint Kubiak's ability. To kind of, you know, engineer some plays for him to get him into a rhythm. And maybe that's all he needs is a coach to believe in him and a quarterback who is willing to put the ball in his hands. Because he's got all the physical gifts. But we have to remember that this guy was like, what, a fourth or fifth round pick. The training camp hype last year caused us to have heightened expectations for a kid who was a day three pick. And that's okay. Sometimes that happens. He doesn't have to live up to that, but what he has to do is make an impact on this team. Because if someone's going to get cut for you, someone who we thought was going to be an impactful player on defense, and we have no wide receiver group, the only way we have a chance of fixing this thing with Kirk Cousins behind the wheel, other than getting the run game going, which we've talked about ad nauseum, is adding another playmaker. And if they're not going to trade for one, it's going to have to be Dante Thornton Jr. So only time will tell. Only time will tell. But also, I'll tell you what, the Calvary's coming. And it's coming in terms of Dante Thornton and Jack Besch. Sam Warren, Raiders reinforcements are here to start practice. Besch is back after the team designated him to return to practice on Monday. He's wearing a protective pad. Where is he? Is this him right here? Yeah, I see that right there. On his fractured right forearm. Dante's first session since being activated since 53. Um... Dante, losing Dante was one thing. Losing Jack was a whole nother thing. Obviously, Jack isn't ready to play yet because he's still protecting his broken forearm. But the fact that he was able to bounce back and get back to practice this quickly is a good sign. I think he's a tough SOB. And I actually do think losing him was a huge hindrance to Cousins. And also the run game. Number one, Jack's first two games, or what's the stat? We're 3-0 in Jack Bash play. Somebody in my Discord said that. Down in the Discord. Link in the description below. Um... Jack was starting to come on as a legit receiver. He's caught a touchdown in the first game. He caught some targets in the second game and then got hurt early in the third game. But he was able to spring a lot of huge run games open with his blocking ability. And I think if you are a wide receiver in the Clint Kubiak offense, You need to be able to block, and part of the reason why the running game hasn't been as strong is because Jack hasn't been out there. You go from Jack to somebody like a Malik Benson or Jalen Naylor, they're not going to be able to block as well as he is. He's a tough guy. He's built. He's a stocky individual, and I do think while everybody's hyped up about the return of Dante Thornton because we don't know what he's going to be, Jack Besch is the one to keep your eyes on in terms of having an impact on this team. I don't want to say he was having a breakout season. The statistics weren't incredible, but he was clearly an impactful player for us. And hopefully he's able to bounce back sooner rather than later. Is it the same 21-day window that he has? I'm hoping within a week or two he can be back to playing. I don't know if he's going to be able to play with that pad on or if he has to take it off. Any of those experts down below, you let me know. But Jack-Jack returning is a sight for sore eyes. I'll tell you that right now. Um, what do we want to do next? Well, let me tell you about this. Usually I don't do this. Usually I don't do this in the in the middle, but I'm gonna do it right now because we got three new patrons and or YouTube members that I want to shout out right now. First of all, we got to shout out Jason Moore. Mark Grippo and Esteban Ramos. Now, I know Jason. I love Jason. Thank you so much, Jason. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to sign up. I appreciate that. I know for a fact Jason is a Raider fan. I know. I'm assuming. I don't know Esteban, but I'm assuming he's a Raider fan. I know for a fact, however, that Mark Grippo, shout out to Mark Grippo, is a Cowboy fan, but he still wants to support the channel. Help keep the lights on. You have no idea how much that means to me that I can get somebody that isn't even a Raider fan to sign up for this thing. So if you want to become a patron or YouTube member like Jason, like Estimato, like Mark, who isn't even... A Raider fan. Link in the description below to the Patreon or YouTube member. It's the big join button down below. You get a bunch of crazy benefits. You can read all about that there. Shout out to them. I wanted to do that in the middle so they get their proper shout outs. J.P. JPJ and Kirk Cousins. It is on the board that they are traded by the trade deadline. What do we think we can get for these people? Top trade candidates that could be dealt and percent chance they are moved via Jeremy Fowler. on ESPN. Colts running back, Brian Thomas Jr. You know, we can go through this list and say, who do we want to grab from this list as well? But what's it? Shamar Stewart's on there. Isn't he their first round pick from like a year ago? That's not great for the Bengals. Raiders JPJ, 35%. Not surprised by that. Raiders Kirk Cousins at 20%. We'll hop back to this list in a little bit to see if there's anybody that we want to grab. But here's what I will say about this. It would not shock me if JPJ is traded. Maybe he bounces back into the starting lineup this week. I think it's going to be Trey Zun who's going to be starting at one of those guard spots and maybe JPJ or Kelly Rogers at the other one. The ship has kind of sailed for me on JPJ. This is now the third regime that's given up on him and he's healthy and they just don't want him to play. So it just is what it is in that regard. That was a Tom Telesco pick. I believe not a John Spitek pick. Cousins is interesting because if Cousins continues to play the way he's playing, even if it's a little garbage timing, still he's fighting back. He's getting hit. He's getting back up. The run game isn't that good. The offensive line isn't that good. And he's still producing with subpar weaponry. It is not entirely off the board that one of these desperate teams that are trying to get into the playoffs would flip you a second round pick for Kirk Cousins. And if you're getting a second round pick for Kirk Cousins, 38-year-old Kirk Cousins, I don't know how you say no to that. If the next two weeks or the next week goes poorly for Minnesota, How do they not flip a second-round pick for Kirk Cousins to push Kyler Murray to his brink? Because Kyler Murray is horrific. If you are... The New York Giants look good with J.J. McCarthy, but if he has a bad game, maybe they flip one for Kirk Cousins. If you're the Philadelphia Eagles and you don't want to give up on the season, do you trade something for Kirk? I'm just saying there's teams out there that can be had, and Minnesota is the most interesting one. And then, because of the idea that you would trade Kirk Cousins, now I want you guys commenting below what you would give Kirk Cousins up for that would lead you to believe that Mendoza is going to start. Well, it seems like the only way he's going to start is if Kirk Cousins is traded. Per Dan Graziano, the Raiders did not have any serious discussion this week about sitting Kirk Cousins for Fernando Mendoza. The plan all along has been to sit Mendoza as long as possible, and I personally would be surprised if to see him start any of the Raiders' next five games at least. They have a bye week 13, and I think after that is the earliest they'd start to consider it. If we reach that bye and we're still winless, he's definitely going to start. If we reach that bye and we are 5-7, I think there's a world where he doesn't start. If we reach that buy and we're 6-6 or better, there's no way he's starting the rest of the year. It's the tough pill to swallow, but I kind of said in the offseason, the hard truth that Raider fans don't want to hear that would be good for them, the medicine that they need to take, is that a full year Mendoza doesn't play can only help him. I think that this is a massive value for him. To sit and learn and watch a team have to go through adversity and win games and lose games and watch the film and go through the progressions in the film room and blah, blah, blah. There have been plenty of people who didn't play their rookie year that went on to have Hall of Fame careers. We've listed them ad nauseum as well. So I don't want to sit here and say, and I don't want to hear people say, he needs to, he doesn't need any, there's no need. There's no playbook to this. There are different ways to do it, and this way has been a way that has been successful. Patrick Mahomes didn't get any reps except for one game. Aaron Rodgers didn't get any reps for years. Same thing with Jordan Love, right? This has been a successful way to do this, and I've got full faith in Kubiak and the boys to figure that out. So, like I said before... Shout out to my $5 and $10 patrons and YouTube members. If you want to become one of these beautiful people, link in the description below, big join button below. Either one helps out the channel tremendously. Join the Discord, that's completely free. Hit that like button, comment away, and please be sure to subscribe to this channel. I love you guys.