Lincoln Kennedy Shares Biggest Concern with Raiders’ O-Line, Jackson Powers-Johnson “In His Feelings”?

From what little we’ve seen from the Raiders’ starting offensive line in the preseason, there is reason for optimism, but there are still some questions going into the regular season.

There has been an odd situation around Jackson Powers-Johnson since the start of training camp, and former Raider great Lincoln Kennedy has concerns about the depth of the offensive line.

“All in all, these guys need to learn how to play together, and we only have a very small sample size of it. [There is] reason to get excited, but you have to be practical and realistic, and that’s all I am, ” Kennedy said last week on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.

“You know me. I’m going to call it like I see it. What if one of these [offensive linemen] goes down? Then it’s a big drop-off to the next man in line from what we’ve seen in this active roster. Now [there are] still be moves be made and stuff like that because you have that flexibility. But this is a very thin group.”

As for Powers-Johnson, he hasn’t talked publicly about the move to right guard, but it sounds like it’s been a challenging training camp and preseason for him from a mental standpoint.

Kennedy touched on that topic, as well.

“Is JPJ, with actually what I heard, is he in his feelings a lot of times about what’s going on? He needs to snap out of it,” Kennedy said, before adding to another comment on Powers-Johnson later in the show.

“If JPJ truly is in his feelings or have some way about not being the starting center and possibly spending time at guard, he needs to get over it.”

Not a lot is known about why the coaching staff has been a little down on Powers-Johnson, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter made a few interesting comments on JPJ three weeks ago.

“Watching the way they’re handling Jackson Powers-Johnson, they want more out of him, and they’re trying a lot of different angles, trying a lot of different things,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.

“Somebody asked me, do you think they’re just trying to manipulate him, to motivate him?” Carpenter continued. “And I really don’t think that’s it, because he is motivated. He doesn’t have to be manipulated. I think they literally just, what you see is what you get.”

“They want more out of him and they keep talking about Jordan Meredith’s execution at center, and they love Jordan Meredith, and I think they’re looking for him… they want him to be technically sound. Let’s just leave it there. And clearly that’s what they want. They think that he can be more technically sound.”

x: @raidersbeat