Raiders Making Playoffs Will Hinge On Offensive Line

For the Las Vegas Raiders to return to the playoffs this season, the offensive line will need to bounce back.

The Raiders spent the better part of the 2020 offseason doing what has become expected of them, which is to say, they did what no one anticipated.

Las Vegas traded away former prized free-agent acquisition Trent Brown back to his old team in New England. Gabe Jackson, a former third-round pick, was also shipped off, having never quite regained his old form. The shocker for Raider Nation came when it was announced that Rodney Hudson would also be traded.

What were the Raiders thinking? 

While the Hudson move was rather surprising, the Brown and Jackson moves were almost foregone conclusions to anyone that paid any attention to the organization over the last two seasons. In other words, no one within the national media probably saw this coming. The Raiders had just stripped down their most successful and consistent unit on either side of the ball to the pundits out there. 

After cashing out relatively unproven center Andre James, re-signing guards Denzelle Good and Richie Incognito, the Raiders used a first-round pick on left tackle Alex Leatherwood. Needless to say, O-line coach Tom Cable has a whole new challenge ahead of him. People forget to mention that Cable would have had the same level of stress, if not more, had the previous iteration of the position group stayed intact. 

The Raiders OL had become overrated where it matters most

There, I said what needed to be said. No one can question how in sync Hudson was with quarterback Derek Carr. No one can argue that when healthy and fully engaged, Brown is a literal wall. And we certainly can’t deny that Jackson was… Well, just really overpaid at this point. Due to injury and COVID violations, the planned starting lineup in the trenches for the Raiders was constantly in flux. Incognito didn’t last two drives before his 2020 season was effectively over. Brown only appeared in five games this past season due to a myriad of well-documented reasons. This gave the former, and current New England Patriot, a total of 16 games played in two years with the Raiders.

The Raiders could have been worse off. Left tackle Kolton Miller cemented himself as a stalwart last year. Then, Good proved to be flexible, able to shift from inside to the right tackle spot. At the same time, the Raiders relied on rookie guard John Simpson and oft-injured tackle Sam Young to fill in the gaps.

The aftermath

As a result, play from the unit suffered in the most crucial area for the team; run blocking. There’s no secret that Josh Jacobs’ production ties heavily into the success of this Jon Gruden helmed offense. Jacobs saw an increase in carries in the 2020 season while his average per carry dipped nearly one full yard from 4.8 to 3.9. The team may have gotten a pass if the pass blocking was above average, but it was underwhelming as well. Outside of Hudson and Miller, any area of the line could spring a leak and send Carr into a scramble situation.  

While health could certainly be considered a culprit for the decrease in efficiency from the ground game from a blocking perspective, the best ability is availability.

Allowing health to be your deciding factor will only get you so far in this league. This tends to give your team a major question mark in the process. So, it isn’t long before the talent around this issue decides to look for their own answers elsewhere. Moving forward, the Raiders will now look for a combination of youth, grit, and in some cases, wide-eyed obedience to return the offensive line to their previous and short-lived glory.

The unit had run its course 

At times, it just felt like Brown didn’t want to be in the building. Nevertheless, after the medical mishap that took place, can you truly blame him? Hudson reportedly had his gripes too and Jackson was the topic of trade and cut talks for a few seasons. Moving away from these pieces shouldn’t be seen as a negative this offseason. This is especially true when the production on the field could not be relied upon for one reason or another. In the end, the unit had honestly run its course.

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*Top Photo: Associated Press/Isaac Brekken