Raiders staying the course despite OL struggles: ‘Just try and get better’

Jackson Powers-Johnson, right or wrong, has emerged as the face of the Raiders’ struggles on the offensive line.

It’s not because the 2024 second-round pick has been awful. It’s because the Raiders have moved him and the other two members of the interior offensive line around in the hopes of taking a step forward this season. And because the team has made it clear Powers-Johnson needs to prove his worth and earn his playing time, even though every other offensive lineman on the team — except for left tackle Kolton Miller — has been mediocre to poor through three games.

The Raiders’ reshuffled unit hasn’t gotten results so far. Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty hasn’t had many holes to run through. Quarterback Geno Smith has been under constant duress.

Left guard Dylan Parham, center Jordan Meredith and right tackle DJ Glaze haven’t had to fight for their jobs yet, however. Powers-Johnson, who played well in six starts at center last year before being moved to right guard in training camp, has.

Whether there’s a method to the Raiders’ madness remains to be seen. What is clear is the team needs to be better up front — starting with Sunday’s game against the Bears at Allegiant Stadium — if it hopes to compete in the AFC West.

“I’m not going to ignore our faults. There’s things we can work on,” Miller said. “As a team, we can really just keep pressing the emphasis, the points. Getting better in our combinations and sustaining blocks.”

Same struggles

The Raiders made a number of changes up front this offseason under their new coaching staff.

Coach Pete Carroll, who hired his son Brennan as offensive line coach, and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly reworked things inside in the hopes of creating a better starting group.

Powers-Johnson, who ended his rookie season at center after beginning his career at left guard, was moved to right guard. Parham, who began last year at right guard, stayed on the left side. Meredith, who emerged as a surprise contributor at right guard last season, shifted to center.

It’s understandable that the new regime wanted to make changes.

The Raiders finished with 1,357 rushing yards last season, 204 fewer than any other NFL team. They allowed 50 sacks, tied for the seventh-most in the league.

The question is whether it was worth running things back with Powers-Johnson at center and Meredith at right guard and seeing if things would improve with more time to develop chemistry and better quarterback play. The Raiders decided to go a different path. It has yet to pay off.

They are 30th in rushing yards (217) despite using the No. 6 overall pick in April’s draft on Jeanty, last year’s Heisman Trophy runner-up at Boise State. The Raiders have also allowed 12 sacks, tied for the second-most in the NFL, despite trading for a veteran passer in Smith.

Still, the team isn’t ready to mix things up again.

“Absolutely not, no,” Pete Carroll said. “We’ve invested a lot of time with these guys playing in their spots.”

In Carroll’s defense, the starting quintet that opened the season has played just one game together. Powers-Johnson missed the team’s Week 2 loss to the Chargers with a concussion and didn’t return to the starting lineup in Week 3.

That means the Raiders haven’t had time to build cohesion on the offensive line. They need more reps before the coaching staff can make a fair evaluation.

It’s also not just the guys in the interior that have underperformed. Glaze, a 2024 third-round pick, is in the same spot he started 14 games at a year ago and hasn’t taken a step forward.

Kelce comparison

Making Meredith the starting center was one of the Raiders’ more surprising decisions of training camp.

Kelly said the 27-year-old outplayed Powers-Johnson in practice and in the preseason.

“In terms of what we want, call-wise, putting us in the right protections, doing all those things,” Kelly said. “I think Jordan is what you’re looking for in a center in this league.”

Kelly even compared Meredith to an All-Pro he coached with the Eagles.

“He reminds me a little bit, I’m not going to say he is, but he reminds me a lot of Jason Kelce, (who) I had when I was in Philly,” Kelly said. “He’s got a long way to go. Jason’s a Hall of Famer, but he’s that type of player.”

Meredith has graded out as the NFL’s 20th-best center through three games, according to the website Pro Football Focus. He’s surrendered zero sacks and three pressures in 129 pass-blocking snaps.

“We are really excited about what Jordan’s doing at center,” Kelly said.

Meanwhile, the Raiders see Powers-Johnson as a better fit at guard. They believe he’s built to handle big-bodied defensive tackles.

Powers-Johnson is listed at 6-foot-3, 325 pounds, while Meredith is listed at 6-foot-2, 301 pounds.

“(Powers-Johnson is) a bigger body, and I think that’s one reason why he’s a better guard. He’s built more like a guard than he is like a center,” Kelly said.

That still doesn’t explain why Powers-Johnson has had to work hard to fend off veteran Alex Cappa for playing time. He admitted he’s a little in the dark as to why that’s the case, but all he can do is put his best foot forward.

“The biggest thing is just trying to get better every single day,” Powers-Johnson said. “Whether that’s right guard, whether that’s center, whether that’s left guard. Shoot, if they want me to play D-line, I’ll play D-line. So whatever they want me to do, I’m going to do that 100 percent.”

NFL perspective

Kelly believes context is needed when it comes to the Raiders’ slow start on the offensive line.

Out of the 12 running backs with the most rushing attempts in the NFL through three games, only four are averaging 4.1 yards per carry or more. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who led the league in rushing last season, is averaging 3.3 yards per carry.

Kelly takes those numbers as a sign that defenses are ahead of offenses around the NFL.

“And at a big rate,” Kelly said. “And that’s this league. Sometimes the defenses are ahead, and then the offenses catch up. And then it goes back and forth, and that’s just the nature of this game.”

That’s why Kelly and Carroll are preaching patience for the offensive line. They believe the group needs more time to come together.

Powers-Johnson, for his part, is focused on getting better and proving himself as a starter. He tunes everything else out.

“I feel like there’s people who really know football. And there’s some people that only see offensive line when they give up a sack,” Powers-Johnson said. “And sometimes that’s going to happen, but I think we really just focus on the voices inside the building (rather) than outside the building. So it’s the same thing: Continue to try and get better.”

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