One of the most puzzling moves the Raiders made this offseason was trading away Rodney Hudson to the Cardinals for a third-round pick. For nearly the entire decade, Hudson has been viewed as one of the best centers in football. He was a stabilizing piece for the Raiders on the offensive line, but the team decided it was time to move on.
Taking his spot in the starting lineup will be Andre James, an undrafted free agent from UCLA. He’s been on the roster for two years now but recently signed a contract extension as the Raiders believe he is poised to make a big leap in 2021.
In a recent article by Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report, James was named the biggest sleeper for the Raiders heading into the 2021 season. Here is a snippet of Davenport’s thoughts on James and why he is being slept on:
“(Rodney) Hudson has been snapping the ball to quarterback Derek Carr since the latter’s second season in the league. Now that task will fall to third-year pro Andre James, who has played all of 116 snaps over the last two years combined. Despite that lack of experience, Carr told Paul Gutierrez of ESPN he’s confident James can do the job.
“Really, during the season when Rodney would [not] practice on Wednesdays, I was with Andre anyway,” Carr said. “Andre started a game for us, and Andre is a good player. Obviously, time will tell for him, what he’s going to be. And he’ll let his play do that talking, but he’s a heck of player, and I’m excited about him.”
Whether you want to classify James as a sleeper or not is up to you, but he is one of the most important players on the roster this season for the Raiders. There is inevitably going to be a drop in play from Hudson to James, but how much is the biggest question surrounding this offensive line.
The Raiders are excited about the potential of James entering the season. It will be fascinating to see if Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden made the right decision to trade away arguably the best center in football to free up playing time for James.
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