Raiders offensive lineman gets set for Eagles, learns to tune out noise

By all accounts, Caleb Rogers delivered a solid performance last Sunday in his first full game as an NFL offensive lineman.

The Raiders rookie guard from Texas Tech was clean in pass protection, and on a handful of occasions, he was bullying Denver Broncos defenders in the run game.

In the process, he earned the opportunity to start against the Eagles (8-5) on Sunday when the Raiders (2-11) visit the defending Super Bowl champions in Philadelphia.

“There’s plenty of areas for improvement, but I think the confidence that he gains, we’ll see how that affects him from being out there for a whole game,” Raiders coach Pete Carroll said. “I was fired up for him.”

Pro Football Focus gave Rogers the second highest grade of any Raiders offensive lineman, pointing out he didn’t allow a sack or quarterback pressure in 41 pass-block reps.

Yet that did not sit well with Rogers. In fact, when he was asked what PFF’s accolades meant in terms of a confidence booster, Rogers did not hesitate.

“Absolutely nothing,” he said.

He was just getting started.

‘Not my standard’

“PFF is not my standard for my success,” he said

As for the zero pressures and sacks he gave up?

“They’re lying,” Rogers said. “Go watch the game.”

As Rogers tells it, at least one of the Broncos’ three sacks of Smith should have been charged to him. And he also takes the blame for a quarterback pressure that Smith bailed him out of with nifty footwork.

None of this is to suggest that Rogers has ill will toward PFF. He wants to set the record straight about the standard he and the Raiders have. Everything else is just opinion.

“I’m not going to allow PFF to define my success,” Rogers said.

Whether it’s a good grade or a bad grade, he doesn’t read much into it.

“I just really trying to stay away from that stuff, not allowing that to fuel me and say, ‘PFF (said I) did a good job, so I did a good job,’” Rogers said.

Big opportunity

Barring a surprise development, Rogers will get the start Sunday against the Eagles. What he does with it is up to him. For that matter, so will the next four weeks.

He either can solidify himself as a viable piece of the puzzle moving forward, or the Raiders can decide they need to go outside for a possible improvement.

If it’s the former, the Raiders could check at least one guard spot off their to-do list next offseason. That means their biggest priorities will be a starting caliber interior offensive lineman, at center or guard, depending on the plan for Jackson Powers-Johnson, and a right tackle to either push or subplant DJ Glaze.

That Rogers has firmly planted himself in consideration is a credit to his patience and work ethic. He arrived in Las Vegas with all the necessary physical tools as a physical, athletic 6 feet 5 inches and 315 pounds. But by no means was he a finished product.

In fact, marrying the physical gifts with proper fundamentals was a hurdle he needed to overcome.

“I was playing so, so hard, but sometimes it messed up a little bit of my fundamentals,” Rogers said. “My effort was making up for my techniques sometimes.

“So just being able to hone those two things in, putting them together, I think that’ll clean up a lot of my game.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.