It’s only the third week of May, but storylines are already picking up around the Raiders’ offensive line.
The California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore was at Wednesday’s OTA session and shared his thoughts on the Raiders’ new-look offensive line on the team’s flagship radio station.
“Some interesting tidbits that I’ve been able to uncover,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate on Thursday.
“Number one [is] Trey Zuhn, I don’t know if he got the majority [of the reps], there was period of time where the offensive line was on the far side of the field… so charting that was difficult. But at the very least, Trey Zuhn got a lot of reps at right tackle and if you want to say that he shared equal reps with Charles Grant and D.J. Glaze, go ahead, but he probably had a few more in all actuality.”
“They started the session, if you want to talk about the starting five that first went out there, Spencer Burford was at one of the guard spots,” Bonsignore continued. “Doing some digging around, there’s a real expectation inside the building that he’s probably going to claim one of the starting jobs at guard. So what does that mean for Jackson Powers-Johnson? What does that mean for Caleb Rogers?”
“Why Spencer Burford? There’s a couple of reasons why he’s looked at pretty favorably within the Raiders. Number one, he’s only 25 years old. He’s started on a Super Bowl team with the 49ers… but he also has plenty of experience playing in this offense. I think that’s one of the big keys to all of this is that he comes from the offense that Klint Kubiak is running up there in San Francisco… and that included a year where Klint Kubiak was one of the key offensive assistants with the 49ers. So there’s familiarity there. There’s experience, a lot of starting experience, he’s also just 25 years old and he has plenty of playing time in this particular offense.”
“I thought right off the bat, for me, that those two developments, Zuhn playing right tackle and Spencer Burford being one of the starters and could be in line to be one of the starters, jumped out.”
Reading between the lines a little with Bonsignore’s comments, it sounds like Burford might have entered OTAs in a little better position on the depth chart than Powers-Johnson and Rogers.
Obviously, a lot can change before the start of the season, but it’s worth noting that Bonsignore is now the second beat writer covering the Raiders to report on Burford having the favor of the new coaching staff.
Two weeks ago, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said on his podcast that he though Burford would end up being in the starting lineup and that narrative seems to be gaining momentum as we inch closer to training camp.
For anyone who missed it, the first deployment of the Raiders’ offensive line at training camp this week was Burford, Kolton Miller, Tyler Linderbaum, Jackson Powers-Johnson and D.J. Glaze.
Pete Carroll regrets not investing more in the Raiders’ offensive line a year ago.
Carroll told ESPN’s Rich Cimini in March that the coaching staff, including himself, were to blame for Geno Smith’s failures, but seemed to be particularly disappointed in the offensive line he was handed.
“We got killed, we got killed,” Carroll said of the Raiders offensive line in 2025. “Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn’t happen in the draft, and it didn’t happen in the offseason.”
“We didn’t go for it in the offseason,” Carroll continued. “We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn’t quite work out and what’s why you saw a change and all that.”
x: @raidersbeat
Buford was crap. There’s a reason he was available. My expectation was he would be depth & between Zuhn, Rogers, JPJ, Grant, Glaze you fill out the other 3 spots. This is feeling like more “my guy” roster spots. I hope the other players get motivated to take the spots.
Had no problem with Buford signing but Vinny the shill & his “he started on a Super Bowl team” is a pathetic endorsement