Fallout from Christian Wilkins & Thoughts on Replacing Him #raiders #christianwilkins #petecarroll

Fallout from Christian Wilkins & Thoughts on Replacing Him #raiders #christianwilkins #petecarroll

Hello everybody. This is Hondo Carpenter, your Las Vegas Raiders beat writer on SI and the host of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. And we’re digging in today on fallout from the Christian Wilkins situation and some camp thoughts. And one of the things that I want to start out by quickly saying is if you didn’t read my article this morning, it went up at 9:00 a.m. Pacific, 12:00 noon Eastern. Please go back, make sure you do. there is a is packed full of tons of detail that you’re not going to get in this podcast and as well as you’re going to get some information this podcast that wasn’t in the article. So, thanks for joining me. Let’s get right at it and get started. We know in March of 24 the Raiders signed Christian Wilkins to $110 million deal. There was 82.75 million of it was guaranteed. Now, it you can use revisionist history, but that’s not fair. Certainly Tom Tlesco, the then general manager of the Raiders, set the market. Okay, there there’s no doubt about that. But it wasn’t like he horribly overpaid what some other people were interested in. In fact, there were some reports that Christian may have even left a little money on the table, but the Raiders were able to sell him um on the tax situation of no estate income taxes in um Nevada. In fact, that I say reports, I reported that. And uh so the Raiders got an exceptionally good deal with him. I think he could have got a little bit more going somewhere else. So it wasn’t like Tolesco overpaid and he was a big fish that a lot of people wanted. Um because of him getting hurt early and how this whole thing ended, people are trashing Tolesco or trashing him. But it’s you got to be fair. You can’t be revisionist. I I guess you can be, but you shouldn’t be if you want to be a person of integrity. Now, here are some things that we do know. On October 6 of last year, the Raiders are playing Denver and he suffered a Jones Frank injury in his left foot. Now, at the time, the thinking was that um he’ll be back and ready for OTAAS. As those begin to inch closer, he went into the offseason. somebody I don’t remember the the first time I heard about the possibility of him maybe not being ready for OTAAS um was before the combine but not much before but again as I talked to people close to the situation their belief was uh maybe but he’s going to be ready for the season in fact that was the feeling that I got regularly and again there’s going to be information in this that wasn’t in my article so please stay with us so Then um I’m trying to look at a note here. Uh then when they got to training camp, they put him on the pup list. That means physically unable to perform list. Now it is imperative that you understand that this is now he’s no longer with the Raiders. He’s been released. He’s cut. He’s free to sign with another team. But there is I think it’s 32.5 million or 35.2 million left in guaranteed money on his deal. Now, as I wrote in the article, and there’s a lot more details in there talking to NFL people, people don’t expect that he’s going to sign till this gets resolved with the Raiders. Why go somewhere else and get an injury and then get this or would say he reinjures it? Then the Raiders say, “See, he was injured all along.” And he’s like, “No, I wasn’t. I reinjured it.” So, they don’t expect him to. Could he? Absolutely. He may say, “You know what? Screw this. I got a ton of money. These people are offering me a ton of money. I’m ready to go to work. I want to make the Raiders look bad and and prove that I’m healthy.” The Raiders and the dispute with him was that the Raiders were seeking to have some more procedures done. He didn’t think they were necessary. And that’s where the dispute came about. So, he files his grievance with the NFL Players Association. That’ll be settled through a, you know, arbitration type situation. and uh you know he’s going to present his people that give his side that say he’s healthy. They’re going to give their side and we’ll see where it goes. But as I said earlier today, the NFL executives I to talked to expect that this is probably going to get settled with the Raiders um with the Raiders uh probably having to pay about half of that signing bonus. And in case you’re wondering, does all that money come off the books? It does not. Half of it does. half of the 35.2 million. So, we’re looking at whatever that is. But, uh, you know, that’d be 17.750 million. Uh, it will stay on the books. The others will come off, but in the end, it’ll get settled probably. They’re going to pay Christian some money. he’s not going to get all of it and they’ll they’re not going to have to they’re not going to probably get out of paying at all. Don’t know that factually. Just know what people are telling me around the league. And that’s where we find the situation today. So, catching all that up, let’s now get into some information that you may find interesting um that I was not in my article. So, when you when I talked with NFL people um I said, you know what? Well, give me some pitfalls here. And they gave me a lot of great information. It was in the article. You can go read that. But one of the men said something to me. He said, “An area that the Raiders need to be careful here is you don’t want to get the impression inside your locker room that you’re being cheap with one of the players. You’re trying to rip off one of the players because that will really hurt morale.” And he said, and this is almost a verbatim quote. I don’t know that locker room. I’m just speaking in a generality. So, I can tell you this. Christian was not the most popular player on the team in that locker room. I’m not implying that he was hated because I don’t believe that in the least bit. I’ve never had anyone tell me that. I knew there were people that were irritated with him, frustrated with him. Um, I’ll give you a couple examples. Um, last year the NFL player association, and in this case it was really Christian pushing it, you know, wanted players if they were going to do interviews where we do interviews during the week in the locker room to go out in the hallway. And I had multiple players, leaders say, “That is so stupid. I’m not going out in the hallway. I’m exhausted after practice. I’m going to do it right here in my locker.” And he was certainly pushing that hard. And that really irritated some of his teammates and there were other things that it’s not necessary to go into. And I’m not implying and nor should you take from this that he was hated. But I don’t think and and like that executive said, he goes, I don’t know the locker room. I don’t think there is any concern of residual damage to the Raiders doing this to Christian Wilkins with this team at all. Zero. Nada. None. And I think they’re going to be like, “Yeah, all right, move on. Move on.” Raiders got a bunch of young talent on this team. Don’t forget John Loloo, who played super well. You know, there are some really good players that are making pushes and moves here. I will tell you the players were surprised that he was released. I did uh communicate privately with several, not in anywhere close to all the team, not implying that. Um not even a majority, but I did with several. And just simply asked, “Were you shocked?” And one of them texted me before I could text them and goes, “WTF?” Which means, “What the fudge?” And it doesn’t mean fudge, but what the fudge just happened. And uh it I think it surprised them, but not surprised them like they were angry. Wasn’t like they surprised him like it was a a player on this team that everybody loves. You know, if they had done this to a Malcolm Coons, that probably wouldn’t have gone over really well. They had done this to a Coltton Miller, probably would not have gone over very well. Those men are both very respected in that locker room. But I don’t expect there to be any residual damage whatsoever in that locker room from this. Now, couple things coming out of training camp. We’ve seen, and we haven’t seen this since the second half of 23 when Josh McDaniels was fired, that we have seen a lot of Patrick Graham using Tyreek Wilson on the inside. Now, there are a lot of unique things you can do there. You can go to a three-man rush where you put Max, Malcolm, and Tyrie. Think about that for a moment. You can do some stuff with Snowden, Tyrie, Coun, and Butler. And then almost put Max in a hybrid situation or go with a three down situation. I mean, we mean three down guys and have Max almost freelance. Uh, some people call that a sniper. Some call it a joker. Um, whatever you you know, your term is you want to use it for a freelancer. Imagine imagine Max standing in the in the middle, you know, in front of the center picking where he’s going to come from, running over there and going where you can’t plan on it. There are some unique things there. I’m not saying the Raiders are going to do that. I’m throwing out options when I talk to people around the league. You know, what are some ways you can do it? But one thing you got to keep very clear is I mean they’ve got Tyrie and Adam Butler, you’ve got Malcolm, you’ve got Max, you know, you’ve got Snowden, you’ve got some really nice uh you know, young players, Tonka Hemingway. Don’t forget that guy. You know, you you got the two big rookie tackles, Jonah and others. So, there’s talent on this squad. If you’re gonna lose, listen, and and anybody pretending like you lose a superstar like Christian Wilkins, oh, it doesn’t hurt. That’s not true. He’s a superstar for a reason. And I can also tell you this factually talking to people around the NFL, there’s a lot of people, if he can pass a physical that want him right now. He will have no problem if he can pass a physical getting another job. He could have another job today. Again, NFL people expect that he would wait, but he certainly could and and based on some decision-m that maybe wouldn’t surprise me. So, we we we’ll see how that works out. But that’s the situation as it stands right now uh with him. But if you had a position on this team where you could afford to lose a superior player, defensive tackle is big. Now, I will go a step further and it’s not because of our friendship. It’s because it’s truthful and we happen to be friends. I believe and I’ve posed this some to some people who agree with me. If they would have lost Adam Butler, this would have been significantly bigger than Christian. And I’ll leave that right there. I think Christian’s a great player, but Adam brings a great player who also is an exceptional leader and I think that is a very big deal. So again, if you’re going to lose a superstar and if you’re being fair, he is. You could say, “Well, he wasn’t for the Raiders.” You’re right, but he was injured in game five. So you can’t rewrite history and don’t do that. That’s not fair to do that. But he is a superstar and it is a loss. But if you’re going to lose a superstar, man, that’s the place to do it. I I’ll go a step further. Okay. Colton Miller would be a bigger loss than Christian Wilkins. Far bigger loss. Gino Smith would be a bigger loss than Christian Wilkins. Far bigger. Jacobe Myers would be a bigger loss. Brock Bowers would be a bigger loss. Ashton Ginty, bigger loss. bigger loss. Then you turn and go to the other side of the field. All right. I think Landon Roberts would be a bigger loss cuz you just don’t know what’s there behind it. You know what you think you have, but you’re not 100% sure. Isaiah Palamo bigger loss. Bigger loss. So, there is a lot here. And I think when you look at this in a perspective standpoint and you look at it based on what’s happened in camp, the ability, the depth that the Raiders have shown off in camp, it just came down to all right, we going to fish or cut bait. Let’s just move on. We want guys who and and and the Raiders may be wrong here. If a player is being told by his people, you don’t need surgery, and I’m speaking purely of the hypothetical here, but let’s assume his people are saying, Adam, I mean, Adam Christian, you don’t need surgery. That’s ridiculous. You don’t need it. Don’t get it. Okay. And that’s something they’re going to have to wage in a in a procedural manner to find out who’s right or who’s not right or hey, we’re just going to end this marriage with you pay half or 25% whatever. So, but you never know what he’s being told. And then if you’re the Raiders and your people are telling you no, this is the the risk of reoccurring injury. I have heard from people in the in the football world that this is an injury that comes with a high percentage chance of a a risk and that even though they’re not aware of any of the medical information and they all made that clear. They said for someone to get back and play there usually with this injury is a couple of surgeries. Now I shared with you back in the off season when people were saying has he had a second procedure? I said, “I can’t confirm that cuz I was being told he wasn’t going to, but I didn’t know for a fact if he had or not. That’s why I I just presented you what I had. I didn’t try to clickbait it.” And but one thing that I was told by people in in the sports world is that usually there’s a second injury, I mean, second procedure to clean up scar tissue or maybe there was swelling and so now the swelling’s gone down, you can go in and do a little bit more. Um, one person who is not a doctor, and I’m not a doctor in the least bit, uh, but talked about they they believe that you can go in and and make if there’s still screws, you can tighten screws once swelling goes down. Again, I’m only sharing what football people have told me. I do not claim to be an expert on this but so I shared with you there could be a second surgery for scar tissue or you know fixing some stuff after swelling but everyone’s expectation was still he was going to be there but I think it’s important to get this through your head that there is there’s zero concern about this impacting the locker room in a negative manner towards the Raiders Pete Carol and John Fitech have done a terrific job in that locker room uh building camaraderie, building relationship. I think those players have a very good feel on who’s all in. Um I’m going to wait before I tell you some things I’m hearing because it’s a middle of camp. I’m not bothering people. I’m letting them work. Um you know, I’ll get some minor stuff, but nothing big, but I don’t I I don’t think that there’s anything there. So once the settlement is reached, I’ll address the matter. I’m not really going to address it anymore. There’s nothing to address. He’s not part of the team. So you move forward. I will address one other issue. With at least half of the money coming back on the books, get Colton Miller and Jacobe Meyers done. This is a no-brainer. There is zero concern in that locker room. Zero. About Christian being released. Okay. Now, here are two of your most popular guys on this team, Jacobe and Colton. Both performing at a very high level. Don’t let it get into the season. And I I think it’s a terrible mistake for any team. Now, if you know it’s getting done and you’re just working out semantics, that’s different. That’s completely different. But if you are the deal is essentially done and you get it done early in the season, but you’re not really negotiating. You’re just working out semantics. That’s one thing. But if you’re a hardcore negotiator, you don’t want your players thinking about that. That’s not what you want. You want your players thinking about the season. And I hear players say it all the time. Oh, you know, that’s for my agent. I don’t pay attention. Boulder Dash. I know for a fact that’s not true. Of course it’s not. It’s their money. It’s like if I said to you, well, you know, during the season I don’t pay attention to my pay. That’s an absolute lie. I pay strict close attention to it. And I know they’re not lying. They’re just trying to give, you know, positive look. But I don’t expect there to be any reciprocation from this in the locker room. But now that that extra cash is there, get the deals done. Take care of Colton. Take care of Jacobe. You still got plenty of room left with plenty of space to maneuver to make this team better. Overall, I don’t think this hurts the Raiders one bit. Losing of Christian Wilkins does not in any way impact my prediction right now, which is nine wins. I reserve I reserve the right to change that after training camp, but doesn’t change it at all. this is a nothing sandwich saying okay goodbye and I want to make this clear because that’s going to give the impression that I didn’t like Christian or uh I had a bad relationship with him I did not he was always very warm with me very kind um he didn’t like doing media at all and to his credit rather he was very kind with me in fact I remember one time I was working on a piece and he would go once a week to the podium, which I did not understand that, but he did. Um, but it was because he didn’t want to do interviews in the locker room. So, I guess I do understand it. That’s that’s a dumb statement on my part, but and I needed something. I said, “Hey, can I get one with you?” And he goes, “Just once a week, man. I don’t enjoy it.” And I actually, this is how I worded it to him. I said, “Christian, I know you don’t enjoy doing media, but can I get a quick one for a story I’m writing?” and and his answer was, “Man, I I only like to just do it once a week. Is that okay?” He goes, “I mean, can you just wait for me?” And I said, ‘Absolutely, I can. It wasn’t a no. He would have done it. Um, and I give him credit for that, but I I was respectful cuz he was honest about it. He just didn’t enjoy it. That doesn’t make him a bad guy. And again, I think the Raiders are in a fine spot. I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he’s healthy and I hope he gets to go and play and he has a great career and a happy life and but I he doesn’t leave here with Hondo Carpenter trashing him or having anything bad to say about him and quite frankly I have nothing bad to say about how the Raiders handled it. I think they handled it perfectly and sometimes things don’t work out and there’s a divorce and that’s what we saw here. Thanks for watching us today everybody. Remember, please keep it to si.com/nflraders for all the best. I mean, we are crushing Raider content, breaking stories all the time, tons of video, everything that you need is right there. And also, you can follow me on threads and IG at Hondo SR and on X, formerly known as Twitter, when you go to Hondo Carpenter. Thanks everybody. God bless you. Have a great Saturday.

Fallout from Christian Wilkins & Thoughts on Replacing Him #raiders #christianwilkins #petecarroll