Silver Minings: Young OL receives praise heading into 2025 season

FTN’s Football Almanac 2025 thinks Las Vegas has a lot of potential in the trenches this season

With training camp getting started and the 2025 regular season just around the corner, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Las Vegas Raiders is: How will the offensive line perform this fall?

The Raiders are pretty young up front, as 60 percent of the projected starters are still on rookie contracts: center Jackson-Powers Johnson (year two), right tackle DJ Glaze (year two) and left guard Dylan Parham (year four). But the unit showed promise during the second half of the 2024 campaign, which the FTN Football Almanac 2025 points out in the Raiders’ chapter of the season preview edition.

“The Raiders hit on two rookie offensive linemen last year, center Jackson Powers-Johnson and right guard DJ Glaze,” FTN’s Alex Blicke wrote. “The unit was better than expected and could develop further as these youngsters improve. For Powers-Johnson, that means committing fewer penalties. He committed 14 penalties in 2024, the second-most of any guard in the league. For Glaze, that means becoming as good of a pass protector as he is a run blocker. Stud left tackle Kolton Miller should be able to teach him a thing or two to help that development occur, as Miller is one of the premier pass blockers in the game.

“...Given how bad the Raiders' offense was last year, the offensive line performance went under the radar. They were 17th in pass block win rate and 22nd in run block win rate. The Raiders were dead last in years per carry, but it wasn’t the fault of this offensive line. They will love blocking for Ashton Jeanty instead of Alexander Mattison. Similarly, the Raiders were 20th in adjusted sack rate and 23rd in pressure rate, but Gardner Minshew deserves most of the blame. Among 40 qualified quarterbacks, Minshew was 30th in adjusted sack rate and 31st in pressure rate. Aidan O’Connell was seventh in adjusted sack rate and 17th in pressure rate.”

If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of FTN’s Football Almanac 2025, follow this link.

In Other Raiders’ Links:

• Christian Wilkins begins camp on PUP: This was expected after the news about his setback, but the Raiders made it official on Friday.
• 2025 X-Factors: “Koonce, of course, was expected to be a 2024 X-Factor for the Raiders, but he was lost for the year three days before the first game with a torn ACL,” Silver and Black Pride’s Bill Williamson wrote. “Koonce is now recovered and back with the Raiders on a one-year contract. Koonce had eight of his 10 career sacks in 2023, his third season. Now, it’s time for Koonce to show he can do it again and team with superstar Maxx Crosby as a fierce pass-rush tandem.”
• Michael Mayer looking forward to role in Chip Kelly’s offense: “With me and Brock, it’s pretty interesting because we do a lot of 12-personnel stuff, and this spring...