One of the more tumultuous aspects of this offseason for the Las Vegas Raiders has been rebuilding the offensive line. Question is, did they get it right?
Tom Cable’s unit has been one of the most consistent facets of the Raiders these past few seasons. The development of Kolton Miller into a foundational left tackle merits plenty of recognition. The offensive line was decimated last year by injuries, still, the unit maintained its ground. Thanks to the versatility of its components, the Raiders’ offensive line still had a solid performance. Though the run-game did apparently regress, it came as a shock to some when center Rodney Hudson was shipped off. The organization decided to go in a different direction this offseason and reassemble its offensive line. Now that they have done that, the question is, did they get it right?
The Raiders apparently did a good job
Deciding to jettison Hudson along with Gabe Jackson and Trent Brown must’ve been difficult decisions. Nevertheless, the shuffling is now complete. Familiar faces such as Denzelle Good and Richie Incognito will be back next year. Andre James will likely battle it out with Nick Martin in camp for playing time at the center position.
Josh Edwards of CBS Sports certainly seems to think that the Raiders made the appropriate choices in regards to these players. In addition, he feels that the selection of Alabama’s Alex Leatherwood can work out despite labeled a ‘reach.’ Worst case scenario, Leatherwood is unable to transition to right tackle in the NFL but can be moved inside if that happens. Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report also believes that Leatherwood’s addition will bode well to establishing the power-run offense that Jon Gruden is fond of. All in all, if this unit’s healthy, we will all look back and recognize this was one thing that the Raiders certainly got right.
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