The Raiders shocked the football world when it was announced that they were going to release center Rodney Hudson. We knew the Raiders coaching staff was very high on 23 year-old Andre James, but no one was predicting they would part ways with Hudson.
Since Hudson’s trade, the Raiders have extended James’ contract and Richie Incognito believes the Raiders have a “stud” center in James.
“[Those are] big shoes to fill for Andre James,” Incognito told Sirius XM NFL’s Movin’ The Chains radio show. “I know the team has a lot of confidence in Andre. I have a lot of confidence in Andre. Small sample size, he only played one game versus Detroit last year, but he’s a stud. He’s really good in the wide zone scheme. He’s a smart player, he’s physical, and him and Kolton Miller are probably my two best friends on the team.”
It is at least notable that Incognito pointed out James’ ability to block in the wide zone scheme. Although Hudson wasn’t part of the problem, the Raiders struggled to run the ball a lot last year. Maybe James can provide a spark in the running game, but as Incognito pointed, Hudson’s shoes won’t be easy to fill.
Another takeaway from Incognito’s message: the wide zone scheme isn’t going anywhere in 2021. Not that anyone was suggesting a major scheme change, but when a team has as much turnover along the offensive line as the Raiders, you never know.
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I really hope Incognito can come back to where he was before he got hurt. He seems like a guy who has really found himself with the Raiders, and if that o-line can gel and the defense is at least mediocre this season, the Raiders could do something special, like maybe make the playoffs.
They should have moved on from Incognito. Players that age usually are very injury prone. Better have a good backup for him.
Trent Brown was never there and so nothing has changed. Rodney Hudson has gone has been replaced by Nick Martin end of story. Andre will slide over to Right Guard in all likelihood so basically besides Gabe Jackson and Rodney Hudson the line is the same and there’s not going to be some incredible fall off in performance denzelle good well either play right tackle or Right Guard and he’s very good no pun intended Nick Martin will be just fine at Center nothing to see here keep walking
But Hudson was a part of the problem in the run game.