Mike Mayock On His Time With The Raiders, Maxx Crosby, Draft Day Intel & Cutting Will Compton

had Clee played like Max everybody Max played like clay yeah that you basically got your your guy if you picked Max Crosby at four everybody's like great pick you know if you pick clay in the fourth round you know so you ended up netting out with the with the top five pick in a fourth rounder you know all right so special guest this morning it is draft week um one of my favorite dudes somebody I've known a long time somebody who me and my pops have a have a have a rich history together uh Mike Mayock joins me Mike how you doing man you know what Chris I was I was thinking this morning about this podcast and I was thinking of kind of the history of our families yeah right and you know me and your dad go back when he was my recruit at Boston College yeah and then we were teammates in the blue gray game and I'll never forget it was the night before your draft Yeah New York City you had a big party at a restaurant yeah and you guys invited me and I brought my daughter yep who was like a 20 21 year old college student yeah and I didn't know you were going to have like the whole Virginia football team there yeah I brought some friends and I walk in with my college age daughter I'm like oh [ __ ] really I felt like I walked my daughter into the lions Lion's Den yeah don't worry none of those guys have game one of them kept cut like I thought that between me and your dad we kind of intimidate everybody you know uh-huh and your dad was I mean your dad was great a couple guys were coming up to the table and your dad was pushing them away and this one dude kept coming back and then he kind of got my daughter away when Howie and I were talking about something else and he invites her on the bus oh no oh yeah dude was he a skill guy or a big guy he was cocky I don't remember there's a skill guy he's probably a skill guy probably I think I know who it is but I don't I don't want to docs anymore and my daughter's like Dad you know they just they seem like really nice guys can I go on the bus and I was like hell no I was kicked off that bus too that night I was tough I told this story to somebody recently uh dad called me at like you know one in the morning it was like time for you to go home he's like uh you know you're about to make more money than you know what to do with and about 12 hours or whatever it was uh could you just get off the [ __ ] bus and go home uh you know like don't mess this up uh so that that's a precarious night yeah that that bus was on a trip to Nowhere good and nowhere my daughter didn't need to be on it and at a certain point you didn't need to be here I didn't need to be on it yeah so so Mike tell me uh tell me what my dad was like when he was younger oh man I could tell you some stories but my introduction to your dad was he was a 16 year old high school senior so think about that most of the high school seniors today are 18 or 19. yeah your dad was 16. yeah I was a freshman at Boston College and I had was I 17 or eight I guess I had just turned 18. um and every weekend we got recruits you know and uh uh my roommate Danny Conway and I we just kind of I think he got 20 bucks for the recruit you know we used to pull our 20 bucks so we had 40 and a couple other guys in the dorm and buy as many beers as you could buy for that amount of money and then the recruits would come rolling in and uh I had your dad and we used to play these drinking games Cardinal puff and all these different games and your dad was not a big drinker never has been a big trail not a big drinker no right and here's this like great looking Adonis he was skinny like you know the perception you have now is Arnold Schwarzenegger right yeah he was skinny but you could tell he was gonna fill out the big hands the shoulders like this wide he was gonna fill out and um we love them and it's hard you get so many recruits it's hard to remember any of them you know but your dad was not a drinker and he tried to hang in and play a drinking game and uh he ended up puking [Laughter] and I'll never forget it he we looked around the card to the table and with the Poise that he shows today on Fox he looked around the table he said gentlemen I'm gonna have to puke I'll be right back and he stood up and he basically ran to the the to the communal shower in our dorm puked his guts out came back in and started to play the game again oh good at that point he became a cold hero okay go ahead so so this is this is because he had told me listen I can go to BC because they wanted me to be a guard but maybe it was alcohol poisoning it could have been that and the other Story I Heard which maybe you can fill in with the family um it's kind of I don't think I don't know if they want to play guard or not but yeah um it you know you know where your dad grew up yeah and it was in the midst of all the busing crisis yeah uh for racism and what we know we're in Boston yeah and I I think uh his grandma took him out in The Burbs because last year in high school right is that right yeah that's right yeah I got him out of Charlestown yeah and I think and again you got to confirm her with with pops but part of what I remember is that the family didn't want him in the Boston area for college because there was too much going on from Charlestown and and all that kind of [ __ ] yeah and I think initially he verbally agreed to go to BC but obviously ended up at Villanova and I always understood it was because the family was trying to get him to a quote safe place yeah yeah I think I think that definitely had something to do with it you know Charlestown was rough and you know him getting out of the city was like it was almost like an emergency with his family situation and with everything going on so yeah he could have been a BC Eagle you guys could have been teammates but you've remained close to this day and I know when I texted him last night that you were coming on the show he was hyped uh and and he told me to prompt you for a couple stories but uh how you miss it are you missing things man like this is your first draft when we talked the other day you were like I was like I want you to come on you were like I'd love to come on I'm not really keeping up with the draft right now so I'm not going to be able to be my normal Mike Mayock you know telling me who's got the bubble butts and who's who's who's got the ankle flexion uh but like in general are you missing the process of TV or being a GM and being in the War Room this time of year yeah you know Chris it's a great it's a great question um when I got fired it was January after the uh 21 season we had just lost to the Bengals in the playoffs yep so we're a playoff team and I think me and besachia um who to me it's criminal that he's not a head coach in the NFL it's friggin criminal that's a different topic but he and I were kind of excited we're coming off at 10-7 season we had the ball on nine yard line going in against the Bengals with four shots in 35 seconds to tie the game and get in overtime obviously we didn't get it done they went to the Super Bowl and Rich and I get fired yeah um so we were coming off a situation Chris and you've been through good teams and bad teams because I remember we drafted yet yeah right yeah I do we inherited a four-win team and we three years later were 10 in the playoffs so I think rich and I felt like we had a good young nucleus to build from um we were a playoff team and we felt like we were positioned you know with Derek Carr and a veteran quarterback to kind of take the next step um so there were some energy and excitement around that team and that program and in that building guys like Max Crosby who I think Max Crosby is one of the best people I've ever met my life cousin man um so um that's my head space when I got fired was kind of yeah fired up about where this thing could go um and then when I got fired um it was kind of like wow what's next um yeah what was I 63 years old um this is a job that takes no prisoners it's like seven days a week it's 15 hours a day you don't get a day off even when you do have a day off it's you don't have a day off um I looked like [ __ ] I felt like [ __ ] I wasn't working out enough yeah um and so what was hard for me and I'll tell you where my wife was really good is she was just like hey we're out in Vegas we got a lease on a house we're East Coast people here we are out in the west coast let's take advantage of it before we go home so we flew to Hawaii right we we went to the Napa Napa Valley we did some [ __ ] that I've never done that kind of just have some down time and spend some time with my wife yeah and that was kind of cool Chris yeah you know I'm not really used to that or good at that and then when we came back to Philly um a lot of my bet you know we're down the Jersey Shore which is my favorite place in the world and what's the beach what's the beach for Mike Mac yeah we're in Ocean City New Jersey yep I just wanted people to know yeah that's that's the best Beach town it's a Dry Town what's that it's a dry town but you can bring your own beer it's a dry town because you can't buy alcohol in the town but people bring so much liquor across the bridge you could almost sink the island yeah exactly I love it I love the place just for the records well you married a Jersey girl right yep yep and an Ocean City gal yeah so yeah yeah so I I don't know so Chris that's already too long an answer but for the last year uh I did gain some games for Westwood One radio which I had a blast um I'm a coach's son I think I'm always going to have to kind of be involved in football somehow yeah and I'm not I don't it's probably not back in a building but if it's um if I'm doing television or radio games and I get a chance to be around it watch film more than anything Chris and I think you get it more than anything I miss the people yeah the people in the freaking building are the glue and what brings you back every morning yeah so this time of year as a GM when you were when when you wore that hat uh what's today like I mean what what's the thing about today that people don't realize and I for me it was kind of like the haze and the barn you stack the board probably finalized the board last weekend you got your top coaches and Scouts with you over you know over the weekend stacking the board getting yourself where you want to be and for me yesterday and today was about trying to clear headspace and and try and get a couple workouts in try and get a couple good night's sleep in because mentally you got to be on top of your game moving up moving down um you know what what are you doing on your draft board and I think ironically what helped me a little bit with the draft board was my time at NFL network right because you kind of had to wear the hat of all 32 GMS yes and I did it for 18 years and different GMS had different uh road maps to what they like to do so I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what what type player typically goes in certain spots yeah uh and which GMS are open to moving up and back and which aren't yeah so I had a lot I had a lot of fun what I found Chris and I didn't know heading into it um I had a lot of fun draft weekend just because there's so much pressure and you get a phone call or you make a phone call and you're on the clock and that deal is gonna get done or not get done in the next two minutes yeah it's the ultimate poker game right it's it's it's it's a charge and if you're a Personnel guy not a coach if you're on the Personnel side draft weekend is kind of your Super Bowl and you know I I've taken a lot of heat about some of the first round picks and that's cool I I get it but I love draft weekend every year yeah yeah how much I mean you you definitely had some really good picks and then you know obviously every GM has ones that they're like yeah I want that one back what's the what's the division of uh labor with you and say John when he was there as far as making certain picks like you know do you guys split it do you guys negotiate uh is there like uh you know a trump card that that John can put down because he's the head coach and just the nature of how he was or how does that work well every team's different yeah and the dynamic in the building is different yeah um most teams the GM will have quote final say yeah and the the main reason for that Chris is a head coach most head coaches can't see past Sunday yeah and I'm talking about next Sunday right I mean they have to win it's not they have to win now or they get fired and justifiably that's their attitude that's what it should be I want to freaking win now yeah GM's job is a little bit more of a big picture situation especially when you filter in salary cap and every the best use of your money uh every team's owner has a different cash position in the world and that affects how you manage your cap and like to give you an example um one of the things John and I fought on the most is that we at a certain we had to certain way we had to handle our salary cap because uh Mark Davis prior to getting to Vegas didn't have a whole lot of ready available cash right right so yeah if if you're the Rams you know and you want to go out and and trade draft picks and go get a bunch of free Asians the way you can do that to oversimplify is you can give a guy a um you know you can give Chris Long 30 million dollars guaranteed well sounds good dude that that would have been a pay cut for you yeah yeah I didn't want to hear that when I was young yeah I remember those days but my point is you can make the 30 million dollars and and spread it out over five years if you call it a signing bonus yeah so it only hits your cap six six million a year yeah we couldn't do that we didn't have signing bonus money like that yeah so we had to do our guaranteed dollars in the the the beef the house we our guaranteed money was in the uh annual contract for the player not bonus yep and because of that we couldn't go out and spend and prorate like other tea and John used to go crazy like the Rams would pick up a player or somebody how the [ __ ] could they do that weekend like he would go freaking nuts yeah and it was every week of every year and I'd be like John you know that's what it is it's a different structure and to his credit you know he just wanted good players like every other head coach so you know the the dynamic with John and I I mean most buildings its GM has last say our building was John had last say and that's okay we butted heads which I think is healthy yeah you know as long I think it's a good Dynamic when you're arguing for the betterment of your team yeah um but at the end of the day it's you know I could lose some of those battles yeah I you know you're looking back at some of the the players that you drafted I mean like you know Max Crosby especially where you got him incredible Hunter Renfro Josh Jacobs guys like that I know Leatherwood was probably more of a Gruden guy uh you know but I think it's an interesting question I wanted to ask you is because I don't hear GM's do it a lot is like Hey listen when you miss on a guy it happens it's [ __ ] hard it's like you know look at everybody's mock draft every year if you think you can do it uh try that on for size but like you know a feral or something when you look back at that and I don't want to necessarily single him out but um do you know pretty quickly that you're like damn you know what he's not the player I was hoping he was like at what point in Camp because you know as players we can tell kind of quickly um you know we we see the ceiling we see some of the deficiencies maybe some of the incompatibilities that it would have been hard to project coming from college to the pros how quickly do you know that and then when you when you go back and look at the process are you able to pinpoint where you may be were a little bit off yeah um I mean a couple days after I get fired I talked to Bill polian yeah he was a Hall of Fame GM yeah and he got he got fired in his career and everybody gets fired in football pretty much I I just wanted to ask him some advice how to deal with it and um I filled up a notebook with his advice and one of the things he said is you need to take a step back and write down everything you did for three years everything you did well everything you did poorly and you need to learn from that and you got to be honest with yourself which is kind of where you're coming from here yeah um the whole clear thing Clee was cut was my guy the the coaching staff really wanted a defensive lineman we were picking number four that year in 2019 yeah and I knew the first three picks were going to be Kyler Murray won uh Bosa two to San Francisco and Quinn and Williams three to the Jets and then four Chris I'm telling you the morning of the first round I called John Lynch and tried to move up to two that would have made it easier well I mean also yeah it's funny because I don't you probably saw Steve Keim the other day was on a show and was talking about both of being chirping in the building both was great I we all loved them and he told me a variation of what he told kind he he was leaving our building after the 30 visit and I said Nick we're picking four I don't you're not going to be there he said well then you need to move the [ __ ] up don't you I like that if and I'm I love them he was a little bit chirpy and a little bit cocky and but in a good way yeah you know um and we did we tried to move up to two and didn't get them we tried to move up to three to get Quinn and Williams and Jet said no I tried to trade down you know people fans always say well just move down well you know you need a freaking partner yeah so we try to trade down with everybody and nobody wanted to come up to four and I kind of told John that the day before the draft that was what was going to happen we're going to be sitting at four not being able to move um here was my take on clean Chris and and obviously I was I was wrong I was hoping I think I told you this once but I'm not sure I was hoping that Clee Farrell could become Chris Long right yeah okay yeah you did mention that yeah yeah I even after his first or second year I even put together a Chris long clip I went back in the tape and and I found you your first two years yeah and I want to say your first two years you probably had a total of seven eight nine sacks yeah it was like nine or ten yeah okay um Clee had I think four and a half the first year and two the second year yeah and I put a Chris Long reel together yeah and I brought Clea in my office and I was just like clay you know this was my comp for you yeah and I want you to see a couple things here I I want you to see number one that this is a guy that didn't come in the league and have 14 sacks year one right yeah he had like four yeah one yeah okay you had four year one yep okay I think Chris's third year you had eight or nine and then you popped like your fourth and fifth year you were double digit guys double digits right so my point to Clay was here's a guy that outworked people his hand use was off the charts um every year you could see a different guy on tape right which is a testament to you yeah okay and what I was trying to show clay because I think he was getting frustrated with the weight of being the number four overall pick it's a lot yeah it's a lot yeah right yeah so I wanted him to see that there was a clear path to 70 or 80 sacks two Super Bowls Pro bowls I wanted him to see even though he was the fourth overall pick here's the second overall pick yeah who didn't jump out of the gate killing it as far as production numbers numbers yeah yeah which is ultimately what the people at home are gonna weigh you on right and I think he was feeling that [ __ ] heavy yeah really happy yeah and and so my message to him was look and he was a hard worker tough kid smart my thought process on the way in Chris flawed as it is was that if we're quote if we're kind of stuck at four and we want a defensive lineman and we we had looked real hard at Josh Allen who we liked a lot who's been become a good player player yeah Jacksonville yeah um the Deep the defensive tackle from Buffalo or so not Marcel uh no Oliver a little quick guy Oliver Oliver yeah Ed Oliver yeah yeah they were the other two guys that were in the conversation and I think they went seven and nine the Jacksonville and buffalo they so they were kind of the three guys in the conversation yeah and I kind of said to John the night before look if if if we get stuck tomorrow my gut tells me that Clay is the kind of kid tough physical work ethic that we want to show who our type of guy is is we're going to make any mistakes let's make with him culture okay and and let's hit a solid double and not worry about a home run and we're going to take a ton of [ __ ] because you probably could have gotten him at 24 instead of four yeah okay but let's understand that going in and let's agree that um he's our kind of guy and we're going to build with them yeah and obviously you know I love clay and I'll defend Clee the person until I die yeah um but obviously to this point in his career he hasn't been that guy yeah well it's it's a hard thing I mean like um so much so many little physical uh evaluations that you know seem like uh these are little things but then when you get up to the next level whether it's like arm length or like a little bit of ankle flexion or a little bit of hip mobility or leverage like it just doesn't project the same and I think defensive ends one of the toughest positions uh pass rush is a really tough position to to and then you have the the issue like this year I know you're not paying attention but the kid from Texas Tech is is like uh is like this this Avatar of a guy right he's got all this ability and then you've got uh Anderson at Bama who's more polished uh and you kind of have to make that decision like do you take the upside or you take the quote unquote safe pick and um that's a tough deal I and then you know that that that year in the draft what probably made it even harder for Clee was that was Max Crosby's year wasn't it you know Chris it's interesting because had Clea played like Max everybody Max played like clay yeah that you basically got your your guy if you picked Max Crosby at four everybody's like great pick you know if you pick Clee in the fourth round you know so you ended up netting out with the with the top five pick in a fourth rounder you know it's it's kind of I sit back and kind of giggle because we had five pro bowlers come out of that draft Yeah in 2019 draft people are killing us because of the first round picks and I get it right but if Josh Jacobs if you had Josh and and Cleve played like Max people would be going on what a great they got Hunter Renfro and DJ Coles a pro bowl punter and you know yeah anyway no but Max I mean Max is one of my favorites and um I I always saw Jared Allen um because of his length and the way he can kind of post people and get you know the three-quarter horizontal and and just you know the the hand activity the whole thing like do you beam with pride watching that guy and do you see Jared or what makes him so good and what'd you see in in your evaluation that made you take him you know we we were at Max's wedding about three weeks ago a month ago and um we had a blast and uh I danced my ass off that's what I heard I heard you did some dancing I went off I I was having some fun because are you a solo dancer or are you you you you like to clear the dance floor for yourself or do you play well with others it my my era you know you used to have a line you know from that Old that old dance show and they would play some kind of funk and you had to go down the line by yourself I like that you know that's where I thrive I kill it there just kill it you and I are gonna have to do it solo dancers solo dancers all right so you're at Max's wedding you got a couple Pops in you you're dancing we had a blasting because I know it's a bad look for like a 64 year old white dude I I guess not no it's not everybody loves him so Max to me is one of the most special people I've ever met to the point where that's why I reached out to your dad when when Max was a rookie and I wanted Max and how we to to start a conversation because I thought Max was so damn special that hearing from a Hall of Fame guy that was a defensive lineman and could kind of I don't want to say Mentor because that that you know that puts responsibilities on your dad but the point is they kind of connected and clicked yeah yeah um and I I think that if he can like he you know what is off the field stuff was even coming out of college we knew we had a there was a potential for a drinking problem yeah we knew there was some stuff we were going to have to probably face and manage yeah and to Max's credit he went to rehab and I can say all this because he went public yeah he's talked about it yeah and I can't tell you how many times the guy walked in my office and closed the door we just talked about life yeah you know not not football um he's got some incredible goals in his football life I mean he he knows where he wants to go yeah and the [ __ ] he does as far as a leader I mean that's his team I mean Mac I remember his second or third year you know we're in Vegas and you know how hot it is in Vegas so you got to practice at like 7 30 in the morning in training camp yeah you're off the field around 9 30 or 10 because it's 100 degrees Yeah you got to get out we'd get done and John will call everybody up and release everybody and Max would jog down to the to the end zone and start running gassers yeah and and you're going holy really he's not saying a word to anybody he's just jogging down the underfield and he's running gassers and then the next thing you know Yannick and gokuway's down there with him yeah you know and and and then the whole defensive lines down there and he hasn't said a word to anybody and it's just leadership he's an innately a leader he doesn't care if you're black white male female he just wants you all in right and Chris you had some of that I used to watch you at practice with the Eagles yeah and you were a unifier you brought people together and and I thought that was I loved watching you around your teammates and Max is the same way yeah I love the kid man the sky is the limit for him and then you know Hunter Renfro is one of my favorite guys to watch uh outside because his footwork it's just I mean as a pass rusher there's some parallel between what they do and what we do sometimes and I really appreciate the way this guy plays what was the process like in identifying him as a guy you wanted in the building and what do you think makes him so good yeah John and I had some interesting conversations about Renfro and um to John's credit when we got him into Camp as a fifth round pick and the the way we got Hunter was we traded down two or three times in the fourth round we picked up an extra couple picks which included I think it was a pick that we got us Foster Moreau in the fourth yeah and then the extra five allowed us to trade back up and get Hunter Renfro and the first day of training camp his first man-to-management you know put yourself as a defensive end you couldn't wait for your first one-on-one drill with a tackle right as a rookie you had to win that right yeah yeah so hunter gets into his first one-on-one first day of training camp and our starting nickel Lamarcus Joyner seven years in the league yeah the Marcus jumps in right as soon as he saw Hunter he went and found them right and Hunter couldn't get off the line of scrimmage and John looks at me like really mm-hmm next day same [ __ ] every time Hunter got up for 101 Lamarcus jumped in his face and and [ __ ] on him he got his hands on him and just kind of threw him down and everybody's hooting hollering and John's looking at me like what are we doing yeah like really did we just waste the Draft pick on a guy that can catch the ball but can't separate yeah I said give him time John this this is a guy that's gonna learn [ __ ] nuances that that his capacity to to learn and change his game based on the way he's being covered is was unbelievable to me at Clemson yeah so we get about a weekend and I'm starting to panic a little bit too because he's getting his ass handed to him yeah and all of a sudden he gets out there against Lamarcus and shreds them just just different kind of move different kind of hand usage shreds them Bang so you know what happens the next the whole group starts hooting at Lamarcus giving him [ __ ] he's pissed off and he can't wait to get in and cover the next time so the whole team is now watching the next one and they're hooting and hollering and screaming and everybody's watching this what and John and I are standing next to each other Hunter shreds them again different move same result and the place went nuts and John kind of hits me and goes maybe we got something and yeah you had some and you know and and Hunter's the guy Chris that after every practice grabbed their car and I think Hunter invented some Red Zone moves that every everybody else is trying to replicate you know everybody had a little pivot he did the fake pivot wheel yeah that was [ __ ] that was [ __ ] that he was just working on and he's talking to the defensive backs like if I do this what's your thought process what happens if I do this and then that and he scored several touchdowns in the 21 season Running Red Zone man-to-man routes that just were [ __ ] he made up on the practice field with dirt bar and worked on it every freaking day it looks good doing it uh you you mentioned Derek uh how do you feel about the handling of his situation there towards the end like I know he wasn't real happy with it uh he's in New Orleans now do you think he's going to have success there and uh what was it like kind of being in the building with him yeah that's a really intriguing question so I thought John Gruden and our offense coordinator Greg Olsen did an amazing job with dark Carr and every year that I was there the three years I thought Dart got better and better and better which is a testament both to Derek and to the coaching staff yeah because part of being a great coach is number one being a teacher individually can I make Chris Long better yeah number two is to be a great coach is what's the fit okay how do I fit Chris into my defense or how do I fit dark in the mic let's take advantage of what they do well right so I thought John and Ollie did an amazing job and by the end of the third year by the end of the 21 season I felt like whether you like Derek Carr or not he was a top 12 quarterback in the league yeah and if you love them maybe he was seven eight nine and if you hated him maybe he was 11 12 13 whatever but I thought that dark car was the top 12 quarterback I took the phone calls for people trying to trade for darcar and he was worth more than see a first round draft pick anybody interesting try to trade for him that we don't know about well you don't know about any of them because I don't talk he's the mafia he's a nice try [Laughter] that's good but I took the phone call so I knew what his value was at the end of the 21 season yeah okay so we get fired we go into 22 and I have no idea what went on or didn't go on in that building um all I know is that he was no longer a a consensus top 12 quarterback and they benched them yeah and then they moved on from him because they gave him a no uh trade clause yeah so dark kind of had the at that point he had the upper hand there and I said big time Big Time and he played it the right way yeah and so the Raiders ended up with nothing um and again I'm not I'm not giving [ __ ] to the Raiders people and I'm not giving [ __ ] to Dirk because I wasn't in the building yeah I can only tell you what I saw my three years in the building and I thought John and Ole did a great job they put him in a position to win and I thought he got better every year yeah he was I think he was underappreciated in his tenure there I think a lot of people you know so polarizing sometimes the franchise quarterback what the fan base thinks of them especially if they're not like bona fide top five I thought quarterbacks don't grow on trees that guy's pretty good um and then the other guy uh that you've mentioned already in this pod and I I think uh you had mentioned this separately was rich bisaccia who you loved and and I could tell and as a player I thought you know if it ain't broke don't fix it but they always do uh with these interim head coaches because they got a big idea um you wanted him back and that maybe factored into you know kind of the way things ended there um look I I think Richie after Gruden got let go I think Richie had 12 games left in the season and we went seven and five and we won the last four games we're six and seven and we won four in a row Chris to get into the and and we were the number five seed in the AFC okay um I thought he did an amazing job galvanizing a team and he and I kind of believe in the same things so there was unification between front office and coaching staff um but the beauty and I think you you will get this um when the players truly believe in a coach yeah it's freaking awesome yeah and the thing about rich is it's it's genuine whether he was the special teams coach or the head coach he could [ __ ] you for two and a half hours on the practice field like very few people can't yeah after your ass yeah okay yeah after every practice like I would go down to see him about something again special teams coach or head coach I'd run down because I had to talk to him about something there would always be eight or ten guys players in his office and they weren't talking about football they were talking about their girlfriends their wives you know how to be a better man um a better parent husband all the women around well I love my wife I mean there aren't that many guys and and I'm sure there were some in your lifetime that could influence you and whose opinions you respected and trusted right yeah these guys went to the wall for that [ __ ] they went to the wall for Rich and they believed it and to me GM hat on personal uh feelings aside yeah um I felt like he should have been the head coach I I felt like he had a 12-week tryout under the most arrest you any anybody could ever have yeah coming in and stepping in like he had to and I thought he showed us who he was I thought the players bought in and I thought that he should have been the next coach of the Raiders and to take it a step further the fact that he's not a head coach somewhere in the NFL um after what he's done and there's a whole thing about special teams coaches you know they they're not owners don't want to hire special teams coaches yeah it's weird even though they they touch every corner of the locker room like they they're used to coaching every man on the roster which is a real positive to me you get it you've been in the locker room a lot of years and you know Richie's coaching offensive players defensive players uh the other thing people don't understand is special teams coaches are typically great situational coaches because everything pivots around the kick game what are we doing on fourth down what are we are we kicking a field goal we punting are we going forward if we don't so Richie was tremendous I thought in situational football as and and we practiced it hard and and he got after it so um I I have I'm frustrated for Rich basachia that here's a guy that's 60 or 61 whatever who's more than owned earned the opportunity and uh hasn't gotten it so take me through this before I want to ask you a couple draft questions about you know just the processes but like take me through this with Rich and that experience at the end of that Chargers game uh where are you watching that game you're up in the Box whatever and with the game and the balance you don't know what the hell is going on who's playing for a tie who's playing for a win how did that unfold in real time for you gotta understand like outside of playing yeah which is the best yeah the next best is to be in the building as part of a team and every freaking game I'm a little bit of a control freak yeah you can ask my wife you can ask my kids um sitting up in a box is hard for me yeah because I can't control anything yeah and I would sit there I'm taking notes for three hours because I can't do anything about it but you're so nervous that you're basically puke in your mouth about 10 times a game yeah you do yeah right I mean and that's the beauty of it is you can't replicate that selling commercial real estate which I did for 18 years I know I heard that I didn't do nothing right so that Charger game I've never felt anything like that in my friggin life like so if you if if we tie or win we're in yeah right but different ramifications as to who we would play yeah if we tied I think we're going to Kansas City yeah if we win we're probably going to Cincinnati yeah right so in the back of my mind is number one obviously I just want to be in number two I'd rather go to Cincinnati yeah because that was the whole was that the year that y'all stopped on I blame it on Will Compton uh when y'all stomped on the [ __ ] logo there I know it wasn't well I think it was unique uh but but uh was that the year that y'all stopped on the logo at Arrowhead that was uh really oh it was after okay it was a year after I think well either way I'm not trying to go to Arrowhead after that the year before we we did a lap around Arrowhead after we beat them in Arrowhead we did a lap in the buses yeah and the buses beeping the horn and and I'm like oh really yeah yeah you you you cooler heads here how does that directive get put like is it John being like hey bus drivers take them for a lap like is that what it is because he's the guy who can control the the fleet of quix buses yeah John's sitting right up there in that first seat tell him to take a lap that's not you and you gotta love John Ford because John if John if John's gonna do it he's gonna do it loud he wasn't sneaking away he wasn't sneaking around the stadium he was big telling the guy to beep the horn and screaming and yelling and you know so we left there making noise yeah and I'm sitting there going this is really gonna come back and bite us oh [ __ ] they're in our division I forgot so Will Compton is another funny story just because story yes I had to cut will like three times in in two weeks is it cool about it each time he was so awesome and he and Versace love each other yeah like the the we're getting ready to play Cincinnati in the playoff game I think it was and I had to cut him again I needed a spot right he comes into my office he's like really we're gonna do this again and he's like and I'm I'm trying to tell him why in my heart I've been cut so many times my heart goes out to him and I'm trying to I'm I'm bleeding telling them why and he's like Mike you know I was just like if we beat the Bengals I think we're gonna play in Nashville next week you know my hometown that's what I really want to go back and play and I'm like oh [ __ ] no well oh that's so funny yeah it's true you could ask he was he was he was pushing for a HomeTown deal yeah and I don't blame him 100 times no well the world's the man was the man yeah but uh but the Thai thing you guys were like looking at Kansas City and and uh Cincy so anyway that that was the year before yeah I'm sorry the 21 thing that tie yeah so I'm up in the booth [ __ ] myself and yeah we should win this game going away we were up by about three touchdowns I think yeah I remember I remember and Justin Herbert just starts to go off they converted I want to say a fourth and 21. and they throw a 23-yard touchdown pass like how do you let that happen I'm going nuts um to Richie and the the play so everything's going the Chargers way you know and to Rick to to their credit act that Richie and the players um we could have played for a tie right and I think we had a third in I want to say seven or eight yeah right around Midfield somewhere and that was the point where they call a timeout I think which I still don't understand and gave us some extra time to think about how and what to do but anyway Josh Jacobs who is a bad [ __ ] ripped off about a 10 or 12 yard run and now we're thinking 100 percent let's kick a field goal we got Daniel Carlson who's as good as there is in in the game and sure enough Daniel Carlson was money and we win the game Pittsburgh's in because I got like Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert texted me after the game they did yeah big thank yous uh I think Tomlin even sent us like a chocolate thing or something she didn't send you black Air Force Ones like no he gave his whole team no but I did find out that his son's playing at Boston College okay I didn't know yeah yeah but anyway so to Richie's credit and Greg Olsen's credit and that staff's credit they played for the win and um it knocked out a couple you know it got Pittsburgh in and it sent us to Cincinnati yeah yeah that was a while that was a wild game I wanted to ask you uh I asked uh Steve Keim this recently I said was there a team or a GM that when they called you around the draft you were like hold on a minute this can't be good for me because this guy's really good well how he's Howie roseman's got the rep of of needing or wanting to win every trade right now I've gotten I live in Philly I know Howie pretty damn well yeah a ton of respect this is a guy that grew up not on the football side of the building but more on the financial side yeah he's smarter he's smart as hell he he's smart I know he's way smarter than me like Chris Long smarter than me they're all everybody smarter than me I got to outwork people to have half a chance and I know that yeah and then you look at Howie Roseman and he's brilliant and um to how he's credit I think he's uh I think he had a little chip on his shoulder where he had to win every deal to show he was a football guy I think how he's grown into the role and he's really good and uh you know right at the my last year at the trading deadline we went back and forth on a couple things yeah um with some Eagle players about and and he's really good and you have to be careful but I think he's I think he's at a point where yeah everybody wants to win a deal but if he can get a deal that helps himself and maybe the other side's happy too it's okay how's this bedside manner does he call and does he does he butter you up and hey how how's your family or is he cut right and then how's Bill like has Bill ever called you for a trade and his bill just is it like five words and then off the phone well I played for Bill yeah so I've known Bill since 1982. yeah uh when I was a rookie with the Giants and he was a special teams coach and really the reason I made the team was because he liked me so we've been friends for a lot of years so we could talk yeah um but Bill's tough man Bill's Bill's tough Bill's always looking for an edge um and over the years he's gotten it and he's earned it yeah you know I'm not gonna lie to you if if Bill if if you answer the phone and Bill wants to talk a trade you want to talk about puking in your mouth there were some of that there was some of that for me too yeah I bet because this is like the all-time guy and the guy I always looked up to and I'm like holy [ __ ] he'll take one-on-one he wants to play one-on-one yeah right yeah it's scary yeah and the way Howie comes at you is how he's smart he's always he's always touching base like yeah during training hey man how you doing man listen I I just want to I want to do a deal with you this year man I just want to do a deal with you what do you think she's doing man yeah yeah let's do a deal somehow we got to figure out a way to make a deal man and and then I'll call back you know so that's interesting and all the GM's all talk prior to the 53-man cuts and stuff like you're trying to you're trying to get something for nothing and you know you're gonna cut a guy you're trying to get a seventh round pick or something and so you're always talking and then during the hey man I'm just checking in how you doing man yeah you know trade deadline coming up in a few weeks man that's so [ __ ] funny I mean it's actually a pretty good impression I mean it's pretty damn good it's like you've been on the phone with a bunch uh I'm not putting it I'm not good at that [ __ ] but that's pretty good though uh what do you think about the way the media gets involved here like you know you've been on the media side of things you've been a GM you know like CJ Stroud's going through right now where people are kind of like not to give you all the context I know you're not paying that close attention but you know there's some negative yeah I missed the Manning passing Camp there's questions about this you see it every year and I know that there's play behind the scenes with teams and certain media members do you think it's right that they should be able to do this and then you know like how does that usually go down yeah I mean the way it goes down is that the media the information guys Shafter Rappaport there's a whole bunch of them now uh there's their stock and trade is to trade information hey I heard this what do you got right and because as a GM you have two choices you can either play the game or not right and I I knew the game inside out because of coming from the media and I chose not to play it yeah and so I didn't use those guys to get information out I didn't I barely even talked to those guys a lot of GMS and head coaches and I'm not saying it's wrong as a matter of fact it's probably smart to use somebody else to get a message out yeah right especially with trades and guys moving up or down or whatever so yeah they're there's a lot of people that are are putting information out there for their own vested interest I texted Daniel Jeremiah yesterday who who I'm really good friends with he worked for three NFL teams and I think he's the best draft analyst out there he's terrific I think he's terrific I agree and I just texted him yesterday good luck and whatever and I was like you know get a workout in blah blah blah and I said and listen you know just don't don't listen to anybody because they're all lying don't worry about Chasing Ghosts it's too late you've already done all the work everybody's lying get a workout get it get a sleep and just be fresh because everybody's bullshitting you right now anyway and and they are it's all it's all [ __ ] right now and uh you know CJ Stroud will probably end up going two or three anyway yeah I figure that's how it probably shakes out uh my last thing here you know that every year there's these combine questions that come out that they're like they're really asking these people this stuff uh there's one I need an answer to though when you guys are asking guys if they're a dog or a cat can we talk this out here Mike what what are you looking for do you looking for the dog or the cat and why first of all I never asked that freaking question that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard yeah um I don't know because there's an answer I think the right I think there's a right answer well if if I can go back to my my 1981 Draft when I went in the 10th round yeah no and if somebody asked me that when I was 21 or 22 years old I probably would have just said I'm a dog because I want to go after the people I want to be a passive cat sitting in the corner yeah that well I know but that's a misno that's a misconception about cats they're aggressive as [ __ ] they also don't answer to anybody which is scary for a coach and a GM if a guy says it's a cat but I feel like a cat guy he's more of a I don't know a dog a dog ultimately is following marching orders you know he's good soldier maybe it depends on the position so are you telling me that you're a cat guy I'm I don't like cats but I might be more of a cat than a dog oh yeah well yeah I don't you see there we go see we're in the meeting this is good tell me this okay tell me tell me this I've never got a Jesus I've never gotten it my wife hates cats I've never gotten a GM uh to tell me this but when I when I visited the Chiefs in in uh in Indianapolis you know they had those train cars and those [ __ ] hotel rooms down there and I remember going in the Chiefs meeting and Herm Edwards was the coach and you know like in the back there was a bathroom and it was just a room and they had like a projector and I was going through all the stuff you know answering the questions watching film the whole time Herm Edwards is in the bathroom and this is your guy right Herm he seems cool as [ __ ] but he's sitting in a chair just facing the wall like not me not the he's just he's kind of listening but he's not in the meeting I don't know if it was to mind [ __ ] me or what or if he just didn't think I was gonna be there at 6 but like what was he doing do you think wait a minute he was in the bathroom he was in the bathroom and the door was open doors open he's in khakis and a polo and he's sitting in his [ __ ] chair like he's in detention and he's just kind of like looking off you know like he might look in the room every now and again I just never got a chance to ask her I'm gonna ask him one day but do you think he was just like yeah he's not going to be here at six or was it just like to see how I would react to him not paying attention to what I was saying hahaha is that a tactic you guys do I'm not smart enough to think up tactics I'm going in a room and I want to look you in your eye I want to see how you respond the foot of some tape I want to see if I challenge you about some [ __ ] that happened to you at UVA or you know but so you didn't have a general litmus test question you know like you know dog or cat something outside the box if you had one question you had to ask a kid to figure out what he was about had nothing about to do with football what are you asking him I did for the most part Chris you're in a Time constrained situation unless it's a 30 visit where you spend the whole day right so if you're at the combine basically you got 15 minutes with a guy yeah you know plus remind depending on the situation and if we had outstanding questions that needed to be answered from a scouting side you're not going to skip that I would start it I would start the meeting with every guy and if and sometimes I didn't have any questions sometimes I had two or three questions from background stuff that I wanted answers like this is what we heard you got arrested you did this you did that I'll put them on the spot for for behavior that we're aware of and I want cleaned up yeah right and then I give it to John and the coaches yeah because we already knew the scouts already were 95 down the road with it but at the combine it's the first time the coaches are getting involved with players yeah so it was kind of like I wanted to clean up any [ __ ] that needed to be cleaned up or highlight something I wanted the coaches to hear and then I throw it to John and he took over I didn't you know everybody hears about all that [ __ ] again I probably just wasn't smart enough to put you on on the spot or goofy enough there's just some goofy questions I was hearing every year I'm glad you weren't asking them so I'll leave you with this this is the question that we would ask you if you if you were interviewing to work at Green Light uh Mike Mayock is a very important question we've debated it uh a lot over the years here you know lemon lime Gatorade what color is that Gatorade what what what color is a lemon lime Gatorade Mike it's like you're in yellow [ __ ] I don't know he's off our board it's green it's green Mike it's not the original lemon lime Gatorade that came out in 1970 something it did all right I got certain producers say yellow is starting to say green we had this whole debate that it's still raging right now but you know what you you failed uh that part of the interview but the rest of the interview was great I appreciate you it's good to catch up with you man you look well and uh and hopefully get a beer soon dude I would love that and you need to say hi to all the Longs for me okay everybody yeah you know how much I love your mom and dad and please make sure they know that okay yeah I sure will see you in Ocean City buddy you got it thanks Chris listen to the full podcast on Spotify Apple podcasts and other podcast streaming platforms uh wherever you want to get the podcast you can get the podcast pretty simple new episodes every Monday Wednesday and Friday don't forget to like And subscribe for more content podcasts get pretty wild this is real tame

Channel: Green Light with Chris Long

Views: 86,520

Keywords: mike mayock, mike mayock interview, mike mayock podcast, raiders, maxx crosby, nfl draft, nfl draft 2023, green light, green light tube, green light podcast, chris long, chris long podcast, chris long eagles, who is chris long, macon gunter, nfl, first take, espn, sports podcast

Id: bXZjQm2ejxI

Length: 62min 10sec (3730 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 27 2023