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Answering Your Las Vegas Raiders Emails, Questions

The Las Vegas Raiders fan base is ravenous for information, and each week we endeavor to feed that voracious appetite with our weekly question-and-answer article.

KEY WEST, Fla.--The Las Vegas Raiders fan base is ravenous for information, and each week we endeavor to feed that voracious appetite with our weekly question-and-answer article: So without any further adieu, here we go:

Hondo, you have no idea how much I trust you in the Dave Ziegler/Josh McDaniels regime. Some things just don't make sense, but I am grateful. You approach things positively but aren't afraid to say: "That doesn't make sense." Here is my question. Does Josh McDaniels have the staff to rebuild this team?  --Thank you, Carrie H.

I appreciate the kind words. It is time for the media in this nation, not just sports, to stop telling people what they need to think.  Sure, I give opinions, but people aren't dumb. I think you give them the facts and let them sort it out.

As to your question, I believe that Josh has a solid group of quality teachers on his staff. I know that the players like how their position coaches teach. He and Dave are looking for a specific player with a huge football IQ that can take the teaching and direct style of instruction. If they can find those players, they do have those teachers.

Hondo, great awesome job, as always. Question: If the Raiders use the 7th overall pick in the draft, what is the chance they take a CB like Gonzalez? Care to give any odds they might? --Tim F.

Tim, I think there is a great chance that they would look at Gonzalez, but I am talking to a ton of people, and there is a good chance he won't be there at seven, and additionally, there are a ton of scenarios in which a player drops they love, and that they move down. Chance? Absolutely, but there are a lot of moving parts, and while CB is a need, this is a very deep draft at that spot with the quality available later—15 percent.

Hondo, recently Josh McDaniels got a poor grade from the Raiders players regarding respecting their time and other areas.  Have you asked him about it? What did he say? --Thank you, Bryan R.

Yes, he was asked. Someone beat me to it, but he did. Here is his entire response:

"I heard it. I didn't read the whole thing, I heard it. I'm aware of that. Obviously, you don't like to hear those things. We have captains' meetings every week and we'll continue to talk to the leaders on our group. You never know exactly who said it and how it came across, and sometimes context is important. So, I'll look into that and try to do whatever we can do. If there's something that we don't love, there's always going to be certain things that are a give and take in terms of time and so on. So, we've looked at our entire process this offseason and we're going to try to make every aspect of it better. Some of which may mean certain things are done less now that it’s our second year going forward, which may be something that would impact that feeling."

Hondo, I appreciate that you are very respectful of Jimmy Garoppolo as a man and as a player while at the same time being honest about his injury history. Can you tell me what McZiegler is thinking about him being injury prone? --Thank you, H. Hernandez

I could tell you, but let's let Josh McDaniels tell you:

"Yeah, I mean, look any time a guy has injuries you look into all of those things. Generally, his injuries haven't been connected to one another. Shoulder, foot, ankle, knee, etc., so it's not one area of his body. So, some of its circumstance, some of its bad luck if you will. But generally speaking, the backup quarterback position, or the depth at that spot, is obviously something that you need to address and try to do it the right way. We're doing a deep dive in the draft. I would love to have a quarterback room that's got guys who are young, developing, under contract, that you can continue to work with every year. As opposed to try to do the veteran route every season if you can. So, we'll see how it goes and how this next month and a half shakes out. But confident Jimmy will be ready to roll and certainly need to do our work and do a good job of finding our backup plan."

Hondo, in your opinion, based on what you are hearing, what are the odds that the Raiders will trade out of the seventh pick? --Thank you, C. Carbon

There are some desperate teams this year. According to one NFL executive: "I think this may be the most desperate I have seen so many teams in a while. Smart teams, smart drafting teams, and Dave (Ziegler) is in that group; know that being smart can land you valuable picks. The second and third rounds this year is absolutely loaded." He added: "There are legitimate starters on day one that you can get well into the third round.  I also think some people are picking that can help push that to the fourth-round." I'd say 40 percent.

From our weekly hate Hondo section, we have three this week:

Hey Hondo, please stop posting pictures of your kid on Twitter.  No one cares; you're a tub of lard. The Raiders suck, and you suck. This team is cursed for what it did to Derek Carr. --Nicholas T.  P.S.: Post more pics of your hot wife.

Hondo, I am certain that I hate you as much as Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels. Not as much as I hate Mark Davis, but the three of you are getting there. Clearly, you are the organization's official mouthpiece, the Czar of Raiders propaganda, and I hold you as responsible as the other three idiots for the fan's optimism. --C. Bennett

Hondo, my disgust for you is so bad that I would rather have 20 losing seasons in a row if you didn't cover us. All you do is attack Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler as Mark Davis's personal pit bull. F*ck you. --Nathan V.

There you go, everyone. If you want a question or answer email published, please send me a note at:  SpartanNationMail@yahoo.com, and please put Raiders Q/A in the subject line.

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