It has been another interesting offseason and preseason for Jackson Powers-Johnson, but it sounds like Powers-Johnson will be the starting right guard when the Raiders kick off the season on September 13.
Powers-Johnson has been splitting time with Caleb Rogers throughout training camp and preseason, but Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said after Thursday’s game he believes Powers-Johnson has done enough to earn the job.
“JPJ [and] Caleb Rogers, they’re in a battle for right guard. I do believe JPJ is going to ultimately win that job, but I’ll tell you what, both guys look good,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast.
“JPJ and Caleb Rogers look really good. And there was an opportunity when Caleb Rogers went in, first JPJ started on the first drive with Kirk Cousins, then Caleb Rogers was on the second drive. On that second drive, Mike Washington Jr. was running right behind Caleb Rogers and Caleb Rogers was kicking everyone out the club. He was like the security guard. You know when the security guard goes rogue and everyone’s enemy of the state?”
“You’ve been in the club when the bouncer is just like, ‘Everyone’s getting bounced about here.’ If you’re in the way, you’re out of there. Oh man, hey, I’m cool with the bouncer. ‘Boom, you’re out of there.’ It’s happened to me. It’s happened to everybody, right? That’s who Caleb Rogers looked like. He looked like the ultimate bouncer. But JPJ did a hell of a job, as well.”
Raiders O-line lacking depth?
It feels like the Raiders have two good options at guard, but depth isn’t a strength of this year’s offensive line group.
Trey Zuhn is a player the team likes, but Myers said he has not been impressed with many backups in the offensive trenches.
“What I learned about that offensive line from that game on Thursday is that the depth on the offensive line is not very good,” Myers continued.
“I think the offensive line in general, the ones, is pretty good. I think that this offensive line is going to be much better than what we saw last year. But don’t let a guy go down. Don’t let two guys go down. A lot of times you’re going to be cooked anyway. The depth is just not there and you can see that. And the one thing that I wanted to see, I talked about on Thursday’s show. I wanted to see Fernando Mendoza with that first team offensive line. We still didn’t get that opportunity. That to me was disappointing.”
x: @raidersbeat
Good problem to have, two starting caliber guards! Good luck to the winning starter, and glad he’s got a solid backup.
Still think Rogers should be the other guard