The Raiders are still in the process of sorting out their offensive line, but the way things are trending, it looks like Jackson Powers-Johnson is going to slide over to right guard and Jordan Meredith is going to be the starting center.
Officially, Powers-Johnson and Alex Cappa are both listed as the starting right guard, but Cappa has been missing time with a rib injury and most would say Powers-Johnson is the better option, anyway.
But there’s another detail that was brought up last week by one of the Raiders’ flagship radio hosts and it might be relevant to the depth chart battle going on between Powers-Johnson and Cappa.
“That’s another big thing I know. Oh, I better bite my tongue. You better get out of the tub with this group. Same with Gruden,” JT the Brick said on his weekly Raider Nation Radio show. “If you couldn’t get healthy with Gruden. Goodbye. I have a feeling these guys, they’re not going to be very patient. Get back on the field as soon as you can.”
JT didn’t suggest he was talking about Cappa or anyone else on the roster, but it seems obvious he is sitting on a little piece of information about how the new coaching staff is going to approach injuries.
Three weeks ago, the Raiders issued a statement on Christian Wilkins and they were clear that the decision on his release was influenced by Wilkins’ lack of a clear plan to return from injury.
There were other details around the Wilkins release, but if the Raiders were willing to dump their $110 million defensive tackle on account of injury, there probably aren’t many players on the roster that can expect to “make the club in the tub.”
x: @raidersbeat
Let’s just hope that they use good judgement when releasing injured players, bc the roster isn’t overly talented as it is.
Agreed! Shortsighted policies can destroy teams.