The Raiders seem to have settled on their starting offensive line for week one, and to the surprise of some, it looks like Jackson Powers-Johnson was able to hold off Caleb Rogers for a starting job.
Powers-Johnson was said to be on “shaky ground” with the coaching staff going into training camp, but after showing up early to camp and cleaning up some of his inconsistencies, JPJ is expected to be the starting right guard against the Dolphins in the season opener.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers has been watching Powers-Johnson from the start of OTAs, and Myers believes Powers-Johnson deserves the job.
“I think he earned it. I really do, and I’m excited about that,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show.
“I think that it really helps him,” Myers continued. “I don’t know if you’ve seen a lot of his, you know, media moments or post-game locker room sound. He’s been very serious… kind of on point where he understands, ‘Alright, this is who I am, this is who I need to be, and this is what this organization, coaching staff expects from me.'”
“I think that he’s come in with a really good mindset… what I’ve seen from him at camp, I think he’s earned that job. I think Caleb Rogers has done a really good job as well, but JPJ could be that guy that Lincoln mentions all the time, that MIM, that mauler in the middle. He’s the guy that has the nasty. He brings that nasty, and I really feel like that that can help establish the identity of this Raiders offense, a line that they desperately need.”
Raiders’ coaching staff didn’t do JPJ any favors in 2025
For all of the strange decisions Pete Carroll’s coaching staff made a year ago, one of the most confusing was the approach they took with Powers-Johnson during training camp and preseason.
Powers-Johnson never seemed to know where he was going to practice, and Myers said it has been to JPJ’s advantage that head coach Klint Kubiak hasn’t bounced him around at different positions for the last six weeks.
“I’m excited about seeing JPJ at that right guard spot, especially since he knows he’s the right guard. He’s not jumping from left guard with the twos, center with the threes,” Myers said of the shuffling the coaches did with Powers-Johnson last year.
“It was just almost unfair to the young man last year that he had no idea what the hell the staff wanted from and where they were going to play him. It [was] like, where’s Waldo? Where’s JPJ today? That was one of our first things we did every day at training camp. Alright, today, JPJ is running with the twos. Alright, he’s at the center with the ones. Alright, he’s at the right guard with the threes. It was ridiculous.”
“So at least he’s been told, this is where you’re at, this is where we’re going to play you, and it’s up to you to go and establish yourself. And I think he’s done a really good job of that.”
As of now, it looks like the Raiders’ starting offensive line will be Kolton Miller, Spencer Burford, Tyler Linderbaum, Powers-Johnson and D.J. Glaze — with second-year guard Caleb Rogers and rookie Trey Zuhn III in the mix as two of the more promising young backups in the league.
With a new coaching staff in the building, key players finally healthy, and Lindenbaum signing a record deal in the offseason, the Raiders have a lot to feel good about in the offensive trenches going into the season.
After featuring one of the worst offensive lines in the league in 2025, this year’s group should be one of the most improved offensive lines in the league in 2026.
x: @raidersbeat
Pete seemed to think being a rah rah cheerleader was how to lead. He was wrong.
It wasn’t a tough decision. JPJ is much better than Rogers and showed that throughout preseason.