Are Raiders Fans Ready For Alex Cappa To Start At Right Guard?

While training camp has yet to take place, early indications point to Alex Cappa starting at right guard for the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s not exactly a move that inspires hope or generates excitement, right?

Debating the offensive line is a polarizing subject for many within Raider Nation. Some will look at Pro Football Focus and claim that the group is outstanding. Others will point to the film and say the unit is vastly underwhelming. It certainly doesn’t do the O-line any favors when you throw Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell out there as your quarterbacks. Still, this new regime clearly felt that last year was a respectable sample moving forward. The Raiders bypassed taking any offensive linemen until late in the third round of the NFL draft, where they picked Texas Tech’s Caleb Rogers.

Same old Raiders offensive line?

In other words, Raiders fans should brace themselves for a similar group to last year’s boys coming out of the gate in 2025. Should they be concerned with the lack of new faces or does this coaching staff know something that the rest of us don’t?

Everyone’s favorite Raiders beat writer, Tashan Reed of The Athletic, recently reported that Cappa, alongside some of the other stalwarts such as Kolton Miller, is essentially going to be starters. That’s unless there’s a major development during training camp or injuries.

“There’s an ongoing competition at left guard. Left tackle Kolton Miller, center Jackson Powers-Johnson, right guard Alex Cappa and right tackle DJ Glaze seem to be locked into starting spots, but Dylan Parham and Jordan Meredith rotated at left guard throughout practice.”

You can argue that the Raiders’ coaching staff knows what they’re doing and that maybe fans need to just trust them. That’s fair, if we’re being honest. Unfortunately, Cappa is a shell of his former self; gone is the player that once helped guide the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win. Things have fallen off ever since. According to PFF, Cappa earned a 50.5 overall grade for last season from the publication while playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. No matter how you want to look at it, the Raiders are in trouble if they’re relying on him for a major contribution.

What we do know as indisputable is that head coach Pete Carroll is going to have open competitions across the board. Players are going to have a chance to prove themselves. In some cases, they might perform their way out of a starting role. For now, it’ll be interesting how training camp helps or hurts Cappa.