Late in Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, Raiders centre Andre James went down with an ankle injury and didn’t return.
Andre James injury update
James missed the full week of practices and has been ruled OUT for Sunday’s game vs the Bengals.
Raiders center depth chart
Moving over for James in the game was rookie left guard Jackson Powers-Johnson. He is fresh off winning the Rimington Award at Oregon as the nation’s top center, earning him the selection by the Raiders at 44th overall in the second round.
“He moved from guard to center,” Pierce said of Powers-Johnson. “Had no reps probably since OTA’s maybe. I don’t think he got any reps in training camp. No, he didn’t. So, I thought that was a really good job by him. We had no snap issues. Just to go in there and make the MIKE calls and communication. And we know Jackson’s a smart individual, obviously, and I thought the coaches did a good job getting him prepared in that situation, which was obviously during the middle of the game.”
With Powers-Johnson playing center, veteran Cody Whitehair stepped in at left guard where he had played during JPJ’s absence in camp and early in the season.