The Raiders had one of the worst offensive lines in history in 2025, and no position group on the roster needs to improve more for the team to find success in 2026.
The addition of Tyler Linderbaum was one of the biggest acquisitions of the Vegas offseason, but getting Kolton Miller and Jackson Powers-Johnson back should go a long way toward bolstering the offensive line, as well.
But even if Powers-Johnson is at full strength in 2026, long-time Raiders’ insider Vinny Bonsignore says the time for excuses is up for the former second round pick.
“Going into year three now, it’s time for Jackson Powers-Johnson to step up,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“It’s time to forget about all the excuses. This guy didn’t like me. That guy didn’t like me. This coaching staff was putting pressure on me. That coaching staff was putting pressure on me. It’s time to be accountable. It’s time to show that you can stay healthy and be available. It’s time to play consistent football. It’s time to stay in shape. It’s time to have the right mindset. It’s time to go out there and compete over at right guard, which I believe is the one real open job along the offensive line,” Bonsignore continued.
“Right now, it’s shaping up as a Jackson Powers-Johnson, Caleb Rogers fight and it’s year three now for Jackson Powers-Johnson. I don’t think that you can describe his two years here with the Raiders any other way but a disappointment to this point. It’s been a disappointment and there’s a lot of different reasons for that. But the bottom line is it’s time for Jackson Powers-Johnson to get out there to show he could be a consistently good football player, somebody that’s going to be accountable, reliable, consistent and all of those types of things.”
To his credit, Powers-Johnson has never offered excuses (at least not publicly), but for reasons that have never been entirely explained, he didn’t find the favor of last year’s coaching staff and seems to be off to a modest start this year.
Maybe the biggest statement from Bonsignore (above), though, is that he seems to believe right guard is the one real position battle along the Raiders’ offensive line.
Time will tell if Spencer Burford and D.J. Glaze can hold up at their respective positions, but from Bonsignore’s comments later in the podcast, it sounds like the coaching staff is pretty high on Glaze at right tackle.
x: @raidersbeat
He was fragile in college, wasn’t a big stretch of the imagination that he was going to be equally as fragile in the NFL
I remember when the raiders drafted him how hyped he was to be on the team because his family were huge Raider fans.
There’s no time for talk or excuses. The way to silent your critics is to show up be better and not say a word.
It’s not really a knock on the man. He didn’t draft himself.. playing in the NFL is like being in a car wreck every day. And if your skills aren’t up to the best, there’s always somebody to take your place. I know plenty of guys that had the skills to play at that level, but their bodies couldn’t take it.
Training camp and pre-season are going to tell us a lot. ☠️🏴☠️