Can the Raiders be one of the most improved teams in 2025? ESPN's Bill Barnwell thinks so. We'll tell you what he thinks, plus a lot more coming up on Tuesday's edition of the Locked on Raiders podcast for August 19th, 2025. You are Locked on Raiders, your daily Las Vegas Raiders podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome here, Raider Nation, to another edition of the Locked On Ra Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome to Raider Nation to another edition of the Locked-on Raiders podcast. Thank you so much for making the show, your first listen of the day. Definitely appreciate you if you're catching the show wherever you find your favorite podcast or you're checking us out by way of the YouTube page. You know we appreciate both. Show continues to grow each and every day because of your consistent support and the great job that my man Ari does behind the scenes making sure we look good and sound good each and every day.

We shout him out.

We appreciate him.

It does great work.

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At Ari Produces.

You can find me on Twitter as well.

At your boy, Q254.

And if you want to be a part of the show, as many of you do, we got the Lockdown Raider podcast voicemail line for you at 707-654-4-6-93 as we normally do. We'll close out the show hearing from you. Calls, text, a lot of great feedback talking about the game on Saturday with the 49ers and the team in general. So we'll get to your calls. We'll get to your text. We'll do that as we close things out. Segment number three. Segment number two, want to talk about who I think this week is going to be important for. I'm going to point out two guys on defense, two guys on offense. So this is going to be,

I think, a very important week, not necessarily the game on Saturday versus Arizona Cardinals.

We know that we probably won't see a lot when it comes to starters, if any starters at all.

But there is a few guys that I think can really make some noise this week in practice as they get back to practice today and also, you know, maybe even solidify their spot on Saturday. But we'll break that down. We'll talk about that again. Two guys from offense. Two guys from defense. We'll talk about in segment number two. Here in segment number one, news and notes of the day. we'll jump right into it after I tell you about the title sponsor this show. And that's Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use promo code locked on NFL. It's all one word for $20 off your first purchase. So off top, I mentioned that the Raiders get back to practice today. Look forward to being out at the Intermountain Health Performance

Center. And we're really blessed that this morning, 9 a.m. Pacific time, as a matter of fact, we're going to get an opportunity to catch up with Assistant General Manager Brian Stark. So he's going to be made available. We'll be able to talk to him. And what a great time to talk to him, right? I mean, I know he's not John Spitech, the GM, but he's the assistant GM. and we're right around the corner from cutdowns.

We're right around the corner from the roster going from 90 to 53 men. So to be able to be in that room, talk to him, kind of get a little bit of his philosophy, knowing that him and John Spitech and Pete Carroll and company are all going to collaborate and figure out how to get this roster down to 53 men, how to figure

out who's going to be on the practice squad, how to go through the waiver wire from other guys to get released and who can add, you know, pieces to the team and how they can add more our talent to the team. I think it'll be a really good opportunity for us to catch up with assistant general manager, Brian Stark. And I believe this is the second time that he's actually met with the media the first time, I didn't get a chance to catch up with them. It was either

around the draft time or he's actually met with the media the first time,

I didn't get a chance to catch up with them.

It was either around the draft time or it was a time where I was doing Joe and Q on ESPN radio and I couldn't be there in attendance. So to be able to be in that room and be able to ask a couple of questions to the assistant general manager, I think that'll be really good. I do believe that the Raiders are going to broadcast that live on their Raiders YouTube page.

And also, I know Raider Nation Radio 920 in the morning tailgate, they'll have that live for you as well. So you can listen starting at 9 o'clock this morning. Then 10 a.m. to 1215. Practice will be open. And practice will be going on. Then we'll get to talk to a few players in the press conference room following practice. Practice will be indoors. There's no more practices that are open to fans. And I look forward to hopefully talking to another player like I've been doing consistently throughout training camp following practice. But that's all going to happen today. They'll be back at practice on Wednesday as well. And then Thursday. And then, you know, Friday, it'll be an off day and they'll be on to Arizona to take on the Cardinals for preseason game number three wrapping up the 2025 preseason. I also wanted to tell you about an article that I saw from Bill Barnwell on ESPN.com.

As a fact, myself and Ari were talking about it on Monday, and he should be a guest on the radio show, unnecessary roughness on Redness Radio 920 sometime this week and we'll be able to get some more insights from him. I always like catching up with Bill Barnwell. He's got a piece on ESPN.com right now predicting NFL teams most likely to improve in 2025. So he rolled out a handful of teams. the New York Giants, the 49ers, the Jaguars, the Bears, and the Raiders. The Giants, they were 3 and 14, right? And their point differential in 2024 was minus 142. So far what I've seen from Jackson Dart, I've liked, right? We've had so many conversations about the quarterbacks. I think Jackson Dart has been really good. I think he's making a push to maybe even start at the beginning of the season. The only problem for him is that they have a tough, tough schedule. Matter of fact, projected strength of schedule by way of ESPN, toughest schedule in the NFL. Their first four weeks, they're the Cs, the all Cs, Cowboys, Commanders, Chiefs, and Chargers. And I'm not necessarily saying it's in that order, but those are the first four weeks. In week five, they have their first game that I think is going to be a win against the New Orleans Saints. But, man, they've got a tough schedule. So I can see them easing Jackson Dart into their lineup. But they've looked better with him under center, but they've got a tough schedule. The 49ers, they were just riddled with injuries last year, so they ended up 6 and 11. They have to be better, right? As long as they stay healthy, they'll be better. So that's easy. Jacksonville, they have a new head football coach there in Liam Cohen. They went 4 and 13 last year, minus 135 was their point differential in 2024. Their projected strength is scheduled by way at ESPN, ninth easiest in the NFL. Obviously, they've got Travis Hunter, and we'll get to see him up close to personal when they come to Allegiance Stadium later on in the season. The Bears, Ben Johnson, supposed to make Caleb Williams look a lot better. They were 5 and 12 last year.

They've got the fifth toughest schedule in the NFL, so we'll see what happens. But everyone's excited about Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams because he's supposed to turn Caleb Williams into the guy that he was expected to be when they drafted him number one overall. I don't doubt that at all. I think that there's going to be some good things in Chicago, but again, they've got a tough schedule. And that takes us to what we care about the most, the Raiders.

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