Forget the quarterback. Forget the flashy wide receiver. The Las Vegas Raiders handed a center $81 million this offseason, and general manager John Spytek wants you to know exactly what he thinks about your raised eyebrow.
Nothing. He thinks nothing of it.
Spytek has never hidden his love for big men in the trenches, and he proved it by signing Tyler Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million deal with $60 million fully guaranteed. The 25-year-old is now the highest-paid interior lineman in NFL history. The previous record belonged to Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey at $18 million per year. Linderbaum’s $27 million annually blew right past that.
“We’re going to put a lot on the center,” Spytek said at the annual league meetings, via ESPN. “We value that position a lot, and he fits us perfectly. We were gonna make our best offer.”
The Raiders made their best offer. Loudly.
The move makes a lot more sense when you look at what Las Vegas was working with last season. The Raiders ranked 22nd in both run blocking and pass blocking. Geno Smith was sacked 55 times, tied for the most in the league. Three different players started at center, and none of them had ever snapped the ball in a regular-season game before 2025. Las Vegas ranked last in nearly every rushing category, averaging just 77.5 yards per game on the ground.
The offensive line was, in a word, a mess. Spytek and new head coach Klint Kubiak decided the fix started right in the middle.
“He touches the ball on every play, makes the line calls, calls protections,” Kubiak said. “He’s the leader of the whole operation.”
Linderbaum is a three-time Pro Bowler who posted a Pro Football Focus 83.7 run-blocking grade last season with Baltimore. The Ravens passed on his fifth-year option worth $23.4 million, which turned out to be a costly mistake for them and a golden opportunity for Las Vegas.
The fit makes sense. Kubiak runs an outside zone scheme that needs a smart, athletic center who can take charge. Linderbaum is exactly that. His presence should also help unlock second-year running back Ashton Jeanty, who rushed for 975 yards as a rookie despite shaky line play around him.
With Linderbaum joining guard Jackson Powers-Johnson and left tackle Kolton Miller, the Raiders finally have something to build on up front. There is still work to do, but for the first time in a while, there is actually a foundation worth building from.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images