The Raiders entered the 2020 NFL season with one of the best offensive lines.
This season the Raiders will enter the 2021 season with new faces up front. Injuries, COVID-19, and no stability led the Raiders to disappointing performance, and soon enough, it was time to break it all up and rebuild it.
Three starting positions on the offensive line have juxtaposed this offseason.
Raiders' great Matt Millen is a longtime friend of Sports Illustrated's Raider Maven's Editor and Publisher Hondo Carpenter and recently joined him on the Radio. Carpenter was co-hosting with Clay Baker on the "Pritch & Clay" morning show on Raider Nation Radio (LINK TO LISTEN LIVE). Millen discussed the offensive line.
"Well that's, that's a great question. I think losing Hudson, that's a big deal. I think losing Jackson, that's a big deal. Those are big shoes to fill, and then you have a rookie out there at right tackle and so on, and so this isn't the SEC, this is the NFL, and so that's a huge step to take, there's three positions that you're replacing," speaking of the changes done on the O-line," said Millen.
The Raiders drafted Alex Leatherwood out of Alabama in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, sorely to replace Trent Brown, who, along with a 2022 seventh-round draft pick, was traded to New England in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round draft pick.
The Raiders signed center Nick Martin and Andre James received a two-year contract extension worth $8.65 million after trading away Rodney Hudson to Arizona.
The Raiders would also acquire a 2021 fifth-round draft pick via trade with the Seattle Seahawks for Gabe Jackson, whose progression had been sliding downward every year.
"In the NFL, you have to have two things 100% all the time. You have to have a quarterback, a quarterback could make bad receivers look good, and you have to have an offensive line, or you have an average quarterback, or a good quarterback look bad," said Millen.
So what are the Raiders doing?
They like the younger and hungrier players on the roster. Kolton Miller has progressed every year, Brandon Parker played as the swing tackle, and Denzelle Good and John Simpson did a great job covering for Ritchie Incognito, who missed most of the season with an injury.
While they all played reasonably well under the circumstances, they all seem to have an opportunity to compete for the starting right guard position this offseason.
"That offensive line piece is a huge piece and they're gonna have to live with the rookie, the rookie, Leatherwood. He's gonna have to develop fast and that's not easy to do. Kolton Miller did it, and he's done fine. I think he's actually turned into one of the better tackles in the league," said Millen.
Tom Cable, the offensive line coach, has done a great job moving players around.
Midway in the 2020 NFL season, the Raiders had played through seven different starting combinations.
Cable had dealt with the pressure once before and did a good job holding that line together. It may not be an easy task to do, but after seeing the O-line overcome the obstacles, the coaching staff seem to have a plan and don't seem to have a problem with it.
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