The Klint Kubiak era kicked off on Thursday night and there was a lot to feel good about for the Raiders on the offensive side of the ball.
Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza both played well, Jack Bech had the best game of his short career and maybe most importantly, the offensive line looked vastly improved.
Last year, the Raiders’ offensive line turned in one of the worst performances in franchise history, but a lot of their disfunction in the trenches was related to coaching.
Flagship host ‘JT the Brick’ talked about that dynamic this week on his radio show.
“Throw out last year’s offensive line. They weren’t coached properly. They weren’t taught properly,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show.
“[There was] no teaching. They didn’t even know if they were going to play the week of gameday. Now this thing is buttoned up. So with Kolton Miller, Spencer Burford, Tyler Linderbaum, Jackson Powers-Johnson and D.J. Glaze, that looks to be your starters tomorrow night and maybe into the start of the season,” JT continued.
“But there’s three or four offensive linemen behind them that can play from Jordan Meredith… Caleb Rogers, Trey Zuhn, what a hybrid player he’s going to be. He’s going to start. I’m not going out on a limb with that one. Trey Zuhn will be a starter on this Raider team sooner than later. It might be mid part of the season, maybe end of the season, maybe the start of next year. That guy is good.”
But this year, with a new coaching staff in the building, the Raiders have gone to great lengths to improve in the offensive trenches.
Tyler Linderbaum is the new anchor of the group and Kolton Miller seems to be back at full strength after missing most of last year with a lower leg injury.
Jackson Powers-Johnson and Caleb Rogers are in a tight battle for the right guard spot, and one of the more encouraging metrics from Thursday’s game involved the play of two other young linemen.
With Pro Football Focus releasing their player grades on Friday morning, the two highest graded players on offense against the Cardinals (including players at other positions) were right tackle D.J. Glaze and backup left tackle Charles Grant.
Both received overall game grades of 82.4, but Grant’s number carried a little more weight with 31 snaps compared to Glaze’s 10.
Grant (90.8) and Glaze (86.3) both excelled as run blockers and graded well above average in pass protection.
Pro Football Focus grades aren’t the final authority when it comes to player evaluations (Aidan O’Connell somehow graded higher than Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza), but for anyone who re-watched the game, it was evident that Grant and Glaze both played well.
For now, Glaze is in line to be Kubiak’s starting right tackle, and rookie Trey Zuhn could factor in at right tackle if Glaze doesn’t hold up. As for Grant, the Raiders seem to view him as Miller’s eventual replacement.
Miller will turn 31 in September and has shown some durability concerns in the last few years. Miller has two years remaining on a contract extension he signed last year and would only be a $5 million cap hit if not on the roster after the 2026 season.
Just something to keep an eye on depending on how the 2026 season plays out for Miller.
x: @raidersbeat
I’m wondering how many of you out there listen to the Sirius Feed of the game?
I have never heard a worst play-by-play by none other than jt himself. I’ve never heard a high school play-by-play commentator worse than he was. It was so bad that I emailed the Raiders about it. The first two touchdowns the Raiders gave up he told us who scored, but not who got scored on. And Eric Allen was no help either. Nor was Matt.
The entire game was like this. More interested in flapping his gums, then actually looking at the monitor and providing information to people who don’t have video coverage of the game. Very frustrating.
If we are going by PFF, then who was one of the worst grades? Oh yeah, our starting left guard who Vinny B tells us is untouchable