Jackson Powers-Johnson is only entering his second NFL season, but the Raiders’ standout center has already become one of the leaders on the team.
The leadership dynamic has been obvious listening to Powers-Johnson talk in the offseason, and he didn’t disappoint in an appearance this week on Maxx Crosby’s The Rush podcast.
Asked on the show if there are any rookies who have “stepped it up” in practices to this point, Powers-Johnson mentioned a couple of names that have already gotten a lot of media mileage over the last few weeks.
“Dont’e Thornton is a huge one. I’ve known Dont’e for a long time and he’s attacking it like a pro. He’s getting reps in with the big boys and he’s not even flinching,” Powers-Johnson said on The Rush podcast.
“He’s knowing what to do and he’s doing it at a high level. Jack Bech [is] another one. The guy is literally in his playbook all the time.”
Powers-Johnson added that Bech left a rookie function at his house at 7:30 because he wanted to go home and “get into” his playbook.
Last month, Powers-Johnson talked about how it came about last year that he would be switching positions and playing center.
“We’re playing the Chiefs the first time and Andre [James] ended up going down, and they were going to put someone else in at center, and I’m like, ‘Nah, f— this,’” Powers-Johnson said on The Rush.
“So I went up to [Antonio Pierce] and I was like ‘Coach, respectfully, I’m going to play f—ing center. I won the Rimington [award]. I can do this and I don’t care what you say. I’m going to play center.’”
“He was kind of surprised. He said, ‘Alright.’”
The Rimington Trophy that Powers-Johnson referred to is the college award given to the top FBS center, and JPJ won the award at the University of Oregon in 2023.
By most accounts, Powers-Johnson was drafted by the Raiders to play guard, but based on his own account, Powers-Johnson announced his position change to the team in week 8 of last year.
Along with Gardner Minshew, the Raiders released James on March 12 and Powers-Johnson has since said he will remain at center.
x: @raiderbeat