Alex Monfreda

With the NFL Combine now finished, here's a recap of all the work I did while at the event. Clemson LB Trenton Simpson on Patrick Mahomes, AFC West: tinyurl.com/3a9a4eaf N.C. State kicker Christopher Dunn talks Raiders' All-Pro punter A.J. Cole: tinyurl.com/bdh27svu

Hey, don’t disrespect Jihad! That son of a gun is still playing in this league..

Yeah. I mean, I described those traits. And I’m the one who was pretty clear with what I said. You, conversely, falsely claimed those traits made him exactly what Bech and Nailor already offer.. meaning Bech and Nailor are similar in role, which I refuted, which you’re now adamantly claiming you didn’t say because you used different words to say that.. just to allude to me only thinking Omar Cooper Jr. is a good fit because he was teammates with Mendoza.. which is actually a pretty good laugh, because if you were to check my replies under my twitter page, you’d find a reply of me shooting down the fit between Raiders and Sarratt because they aren’t a fit at all and if it wasn’t for Mendoza, Sarratt wouldn’t be on anyone’s radar.. i don’t know, man. If being aggressive, non informative, and rolling with assumptions is your thing, more power to you. But don’t think I’m going to be replying to you after this one.

@AlexMonfreda @Rdrneil I never said Bech is like Nailor, or that both of them are the same as Cooper. I was pretty clear in what I said. Everyone wants Cooper because of the hype and because he's teammates with Mendoza. Not because of real football traits that differ from who's already on roster.

Being honest? I don’t think many fans would agree. But I’ll speak my mind here. I look at all the picks this team has. I think of Mendoza. I think of guys who can be his guys in the long-run. I think of a guy who is his guy.. i see all those picks I just spoke of. If it’s early 20s in the draft, and Omar Cooper Jr. is still on the board, I’m surrendering some of those assets to go get Fernando’s guy. Not only a Fernando guy, but really a picture-perfect Kubiak guy. Great fundamentals. Runs routes well. Uses his hands well. Great blocker. Ran a 4.42 40. 6-foot tall. Not overly explosive or anything, but that’s okay. You don’t need a guy to completely take over the passing game here. Remember, Brock Bowers does exist. But you gotta get Brock some help. Omar can play inside, outside, whatever you need him to. And he won’t be flashy, but he’ll fetch results. Especially in a Kubiak offense. Especially with Fernando at QB. Omar is going to be one of those guys who has a job for a long while in this league, even if he never becomes a “stud.”

@steadyxgang @Rdrneil Well, no. Bech and Nailor aren’t even the same guy. Let alone both being the same as Omar. Lol.

@AlexMonfreda @Rdrneil You just described Bech AND Nailor while speaking about someone else. Everybody is always infatuated with the new toys coming out. But in reality, we have multiple guys to help Bowers. And then you want to give up extra just to get someone that had a great half-season

Hey bighead 🙂

I honestly don’t think Sarratt would be a great fit at all. I think if Mendoza wasn’t 1.1, Sarratt wouldn’t be on anyone’s radar. Not because I think low of him.. but he isn’t a high ceiling player. Which is absolutely fine.. but what he brings to the table, and how he slides in, isn’t anything the receiver room is in need of. In fact, Sarratt would just give the WR room more of what they already have, and continue to deprive the WR room of everything they need. He’d have some production in LV, if for no other reason than Mendoza, but it really wouldn’t give the team anything they don’t already have, besides a pre-existing relationship with Mendoza.

@AlexMonfreda Interesting take. Sarratt in round 3 would be a great fit. Are you optimistic on Bech? He seems like a big slot whereas now they have Nailor who can do the slot along with Bowers at times

It’s easy to see why Mendoza looked to Sarratt often at IU. This is a smart player who sits in zones well and gets himself in great positions to catch the football once the ball is in the air. Good body control & fluid mover with the ball. Yet still, we’re talking about a rather low ceiling prospect. The reasons are this: He isn’t great at creating separation. While he is very good at finding space and sitting in space/adjusting mid-route and taking advantage of out of position defenders, he isn’t a guy who creates most of his own separation. There’s no real explosiveness. He’s a fluid mover, absolutely (meaning his body moves like it’s completely free and natural), but he isn’t actually overly elusive and he certainly isn’t on the speedy side of the speed spectrum. There’s one successful type of WR archetype in the NFL that can still flourish despite the 2 above negatives. Just one. Think Mike Williams. Think Mike Evans. Physical guy who doesn’t need to be open because he’ll just haul in the ball regardless. Doesn’t need to be speedy or elusive because he’ll just shake you off. Well, Sarratt isn’t that. He does indeed have good body control which allows him to beat a defender in the air and come down with footballs even when closely defended, but he isn’t the type of guy who can just shield defenders off with his body on any given down. Which isn’t a big deal in itself. Not many guys are that. But when you combine it with the above things, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal. And while I’m not going to go as far as saying Sarratt has iffy hands, there were a few concentration drops that are tough watches. But it happens.

Let me count just a few of the ways this is insane 1. Every Patriots team in the prime Tom years was full of guys who won early at the WR position (Raiders have 0) 2. While many of Tom’s receivers may not have been household names, there were many.. many.. who were there because they were great at what they did, and what they were great at was a perfect fit with Tom’s game 3. Thanks to the above, the team’s WR unit constantly produced statistically 4. Julian Edelman alone would be an entire universe ahead of anyone else in LV at that position 5. Even if none of that was true and it was actually a fact Tom Brady won Super Bowls without any WR help (ridiculous, but let’s just say it was true)…. we’re going to use the greatest QB in the history of football as a bar for the Raiders and their rookie QB???

Free-agent DT Christian Wilkins fully intends to play this season, but still is rehabbing his foot injury, per his agent David Mulugheta. So far 26 teams have reached out and are waiting for Wilkins to be ready, and Wilkins is expected to have a new home as soon as he wants.

@flipcuplegend Renfrow (in his day) was great at creating his own separation through his routes! That isn’t Sarratt. That said. If you took that away from Renfrow, and made him grow 4 inches (pause), yeah, you probably aren’t too far off.

@AlexMonfreda Kinda like renfrow?

@AlexMonfreda Preach my friend

Yes, Jakobi is indeed the perfect example of what I’m saying. He looked great on film with the Raiders. Did you know his successful play % was actually higher with the Raiders in that exact system you speak of, before Chip was even fired, than it was with Cohen and the Jags? And his stats did take a tiny dip with the bad coach. 3 yards less per game with Raiders than with Jax. 50.3 with LV, 53.7 with Jax.

@AlexMonfreda Meyers is a good example from last year. Didn’t do much. Gets traded. Puts up the numbers and gets a new contract. Could our guys have done more?? Probably. Did the system and Coaching help?? Not much.

Yeah my bad. It was the scheme. If it wasn’t for that pesky scheme at least 3 of them would’ve been Pro Bowlers, now that I think about it. Sorry!!

@_7oodoo I hear you my man. They did try it at the start of the year and it was disastrous. You can argue a lot has [presumably] changed with DT since then. You may be right. But they did try it early on. And it was a pretty ugly sight. Minus the one catch vs NE.

@AlexMonfreda In a system where he gets more vertical stems, he serves the purpose the offense needs at X without garnering a target. He was completely mismanaged in year one imo. I've seen enough back shoulder clips to think it's a good pairing. Kubiak made MVS look good.

Physically he is an absolute specimen. Dreamy god-given tools. But he’s just so far away, man. Way too far away for me to even consider him a legitimate threat at this point in time. He has the right attitude, though!

The reality is, good pass-catchers still get theirs when given opportunity + look good on film. Sure, there may be a dip in statistical output, no arguments there, but man.. we are talking about 1k total yards.. combined. And what’s worse? More than 400 came from a guy who wasn’t even part of what you’re talking about. 40% from Nailor, who looked good on film last year. No one in this WR room looked good on film last year. Besides Jakobi, who of course now plays for the Jaguars. The coaching did these guys little favors. No doubt about it. But these guys did themselves little favors, too. Film from any, minus Nailor, is largely a gross watch. Which is why I sarcastically alluded to the only way coaching being the cause for this is if coaches are in their ears telling them to do nothing and drop passes. Etc. obviously, that is not the case.

@AlexMonfreda Good question. Just makes sense that if you have incompetent Coaching, the results for your players, will be less than stellar. More often than not. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

@ICEnEC2 I wonder how many other players and teams have suffered that.. and how their receivers do, statistically.. Unless, of course, coach is in their ear saying, “do nothing.” “Drop this pass.” Etc.

@AlexMonfreda Yeah, because that’s what I said. 🙄🙄 Bad scheme. Bad coaching. Bad results. That help you out a little??

For this season in a vacuum, meaning as it relates to only the 2026 season, extremely important. Drop everything and get a gameplan for it right now, type important. But for the team in totality.. 2026 and years afterwards.. not overly important to get one this offseason, albeit getting one will only help Fernando Mendoza’s transition to the offense and overall NFL experience. Tldr; If you want to compete this upcoming year — extremely important If you’re just focused on continuing the build throughout next year — not overly important

@AlexMonfreda How important is it to target a playmaker WR for this season?

97 receptions, 1088 yards, 10 TDs. Solid statistical season for a WR, right? Those are the COMBINED ‘25 stats of all 8 WRs currently on the Raiders’ roster. And while guys like Nailor and Bech should see a notable stat boost, it’s just laughable. Need a playmaker in that room.

You’re right, it’s not even a contest. Glaze and Grant are far from all that and a bag of chips, but you’re in great shape if 4 of 5 players on your OL are superior linemen and they’re your weak spot. I have no idea where the thinking came from that all 5 of your OL need to be great players for the line to be effective. I can count on my fist how many teams that applies to. Meanwhile, that passing offense lacks legitimate playmakers in every way. But that’s okay because hello we need to focus on making sure 5 of 5 guys on the OL are world-beaters and not 4 of 5