Getty Las Vegas Raiders HC Jon Gruden.
Despite already making a litany of moves, the Las Vegas Raiders continue to tinker with their offensive line. It was a major point for the team this offseason to revamp the group and make it young and cheaper. They’ve certainly succeeded in those two aspects but time will tell if the group is better than last year’s.
If the group does end up playing better, it won’t be because of Marquel Harrell. The former Auburn Tiger was signed by the Raiders earlier in the offseason but he won’t be getting a shot to make the team in training camp. Las Vegas announced on Monday that they’ve let go of Harrell so that they could re-sign Sam Young.
We have re-signed free agent T Sam Young.
In a corresponding move, we have waived G Marquel Harrell » t.co/UWlDHuTVJK
Harrell was with the Buffalo Bills for a bit last season but didn’t play. He’s only 23-years-old so there’s plenty of time to develop but the Raiders clearly didn’t see enough. Young started seven games for the team last season and that familiarity could make him valuable.
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Raiders OL Ranked Among Worst in NFL
Over the last several years, the Raiders have fielded some of the best offensive line groups in the NFL. The team was ninth in the NFL in sacks allowed last season. However, this offseason, they traded Rodney Hudson, Trent Brown and Gabe Jackson, who are all Pro Bowl-level players when healthy.
The team did a lot of work to replace them but not everybody is sold that the Raiders did an adequate job. Pro Football Focus ranked the group as the 25th best in the NFL:
The right guard spot will be manned by Denzelle Good, who is coming off a career-high 958 snaps en route to a 56.7 grade, good for 59th out of 84 qualifiers. With center Rodney Hudson being traded, center will be a battle between Andre James and Nick Martin. James has struggled to a 23.4 overall grade on 117 career snaps, while Martin has been a solid pass protector and a below-average run blocker in his four years as a starter with the Texans. Even with Hudson declining in recent years, it will be tough to match his performance.
Raiders OL Isn’t This Bad
Offensive line appears to be a difficult position group to rate using analytics. Andre James wasn’t amazing in his brief time relieving Hudson in 2019 but he wasn’t 23.4 out of 100 bad. He put together a solid performance considering he had never played center prior to that game. To suggest that he won’t be improved after over a year of learning behind one of the best seems like a mistake.
In Good’s case, he’s always headed into the season as a backup and has had to bounce around the offensive line. He should be better in a defined role in 2021. Now, there are question marks on the Raiders’ offensive line. Rookie Alex Leatherwood could struggle at right tackle and James could not be the Hudson replacement the team was hoping he would be. However, Kolton Miller, Richie Incognito and Good are solid players and give the team at least a decent offensive line if the other two guys struggle.
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