Silver And Black Pride
The battle at left guard will produce starter and quality backup for Las Vegas Raiders
Dylan Parham versus Jordan Meredith.
That’s the positional battle to watch on the offensive line as the Las Vegas Raiders continue on an integral offseason under new head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek.
Both Parham and Meredith are incumbents in Las Vegas’ trenches and during OTAs in May and June and mandatory minicamp two weeks ago, that duo was flipping back and forth at left guard. The first-team offensive line for much of minicamp consisted of: Kolton Miller (left tackle), Parham/Meredith (left guard), Jackson Powers-Johnson (center), Alex Cappa (right guard), and DJ Glaze (right tackle).
Hence eyes on the left guard spot. While the entire group can potentially fluctuate — Carroll has said numerous times the Raiders are open competition in his inaugural year as the captain of the Silver & Black — four of the front-five spots appear entrenched with the left guard spot the only position without a clear-cut No. 1.
And that’s why the upcoming training camp battle between Parham and Meredith bears watching.
Parham, who arrived to Las Vegas as a third-round pick (90th overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft, earned his way into the starting lineup from the get-go and started 48 of the 51 games is his first three years with the Raiders.
The Memphis product was a 17-game starter his rookie season at left guard, then he started 17 contests in 2023 seeing time at both left and right guard spots, and this past year, he played in 15 games with 14 starts at right guard.
Parham is no stranger to heavy snap counts as he notched 94, 100, and 90 percent of the the Raiders’ offensive snaps in his first three seasons in Silver & Black.
Meredith, meanwhile, arrived to the NFL scene as an undrafted free agent out of Western Kentucky by landing with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021. He was waived, signed by the Raiders in 2022, released again and spent some time with the Cleveland browns. He returned to Las Vegas at the tail end of 2022 before signing a future/reserve contract in 2023.
A spot starter/backup in 2022 and 2023, Meredith was an eight-game starter in 2024 for the Raiders playing 574 snaps (63 percent) in the 14 contests he played in total. When Parham was out with injury, it was Meredith who stepped in. And when Powers-Johnson assumed the center role when Andre James went down, it was Meredith who shifted to left guard. What he displayed in those eight starts earned the belief of Raider Nation.
Those 574 snaps were the most Meredith has seen on offense in his three-year career.
Of the two, Meredith is the heavier lineman at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds compared to Parham at 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds.
When comparing Parham and Meredith via Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) evaluations, it’s easy to see why Meredith has...
