Former Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs has made a number of statements about why he left Sin City this offseason, and frankly, it hasn’t been sitting well with fans.
Some outside the fan base, however, have sided with Jacobs, believing his talent was being wasted during his time with the Silver and Black.
Whether or not that is the case, at the end of the day, it may have just not been the right fit. That doesn’t mean it’s all on the organization.
Sports media personality Colin Cowherd, however, seems to think it is.
“It always makes me happy when I see somebody that works really, really hard — I’ll get called by people in my industry or I see athletes get drafted by really stable organizations,” Cowherd said on the “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” this past week. “Because I’ve been very lucky in my career that I’ve worked overwhelmingly for really good companies, stable financially. I had two years in Tampa, and it was an absolute circus. … It was a disaster. Lot of good employees, though, but you couldn’t do your best work as an employee because management was a revolving door full of clowns. There’s only so much you can do. People I worked with was great; the reporters were great, and the anchors were great, and the producers were great, and the people at the desk were great. And that’s the Raiders.
“And Josh Jacobs is telling you this is what it’s like to be a dysfunctional organization. I mean, Green Bay is going to be Disney Land. Lush gardens, functional, smiling employees. The Raiders are that carnival that shows up and they host it in your high school parking lot, and one of the carnies says before you get on the tilt-a-whirl, ‘I wouldn’t sit in that chair, we’ve had some problems with it.’
“Raider fans are so odd and delusional. They get very angry because they’re all over the country, they’re always asking you, ‘How do you think the Raiders will do this year?’ I don’t know; they’re in a division with Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and a very promising rookie in Bo Nix with 61 college starts, and the Raiders have a defensive head coach.
“I don’t like the Raiders. They’ve been over .500 two times in 21 years. The ownership is poor, the division’s good, their quarterback’s a journeyman, I don’t think it’s good.”
Wow. On one hand, this isn’t anything the Raiders haven’t already heard this offseason. But I expect more from someone as renowned as Cowherd.
News flash, Colin: the Raiders beat two of those coaches you mentioned last season. Payton still has yet to beat them. They beat Reid and Mahomes at Arrowhead — if you can beat the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champs on their home field, you can beat anyone.
And yet again, another assumption that Gardner Minshew II starts. From everything the Raiders have said this offseason, Aidan O’Connell is the frontrunner. And if you don’t believe in him either, keep in mind he was the one leading the offense in that win over Kansas City on Christmas Day. As a rookie, mind you.
It’s OK if you don’t believe in the Raiders; they don’t need you to. But make your reasons make sense.
