It’s a minor miracle what happened with the Raiders offensive line last season. And Raiders coaches are trying to ensure it wasn’t a one-and-done situation.
Following the 2018 season, you could have argued that the weakest position group on this team was the offensive line. The rookie tackle duo of Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker were purging sacks, while guards Keleche Osemele and Gabe Jackson were both hampered by nagging injuries that cost them games down the stretch.
The result was 52 sacks surrendered. Then the situation seemed to go from bad to downright desperate when the team traded away Osemele. The offensive line would need some serious rebuilding along with considerable improvement.
Usually you’d figure when positions need as much help as the Raiders offensive line did, the draft would figure to be the way to go. Well, what if I told you they accomplished the offensive line revitalization without using a single draft pick on it? It was a risky move, but for the time being it has worked out.
The first step was to do something about the tackle spot. Kolton Miller was the team’s first-round pick in 2018. He gave up 16.0 sacks as a rookie, but they were determined to give him his shot to be the team’s left tackle of the future. He was also battling a knee injury, so we had yet to see what he could do healthy.
Third round rookie Parker on the other side was just plain bad. No way around it. So, the team made their biggest investment to make Trent Brown the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history and plopped him at right tackle.
That just left the guard spot, where Denzelle Good was at the top of the depth chart after filling in at the position late in the season. The team had four picks in the top 35, so It seemed the perfect time to burn one of them on a guard.
Not only did they not use one of those picks on a guard, but they also didn’t use ANY picks on a guard. It looked like it was Denzelle Good or bust, backups be damned.
If that was the idea, it didn’t last long. Good soon went out with an injury that lingered into training camp. Then, out of nowhere, here comes noted NFL bad boy Richie Incognito, signed out of retirement, despite facing NFL suspensions for incidents that occurred during his year away. Ultimately he served his two games early in the season.
The move was highly criticized. You trade away a former All-Pro guard, use no draft picks on the position, your pegged starter gets hurt, and you sign a trouble former player out of retirement at age 36 who is already going to miss time to suspension?
On top of that, you sign a tackle to the richest O-lineman contract in NFL history and put him at RIGHT tackle? While leaving your unproven second-year guy who gave up 16 sacks at left tackle? Not exactly a foolproof plan. But it worked.
Incognito served his 2-game suspension and was in the starting lineup by week three. And he had an outstanding season while being a model citizen. Then when he left late in the season with an ankle injury, Denzelle Good stepped in and played well in reserve.
Kolton Miller was the key to the success at tackle. The Raiders knew what they had in Trent Brown. And Miller stepped up as well.
As a result, Derek Carr’s sack numbers were back down to a more respectable 29 and Josh Jacobs averaged 4.8 yards per carry on his way to being the odds on favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The only issue was when Brown was lost to injury, they put Brandon Parker back in and suddenly it was 2018 again with Carr seeing pressure from the outside and backs getting stuffed in the backfield. So, I suppose finding a decent backup tackle would be a good idea.
A day after the Raiders season finale, they re-signed Incognito to a 2-year extension. And last week, they brought Denzelle Good back on a one-year deal as well. So, the same group will be back for 2020.
“Yeah it’s huge,” Gruden said of bringing back Incognito. “I mean continuity is a word that we‘d like to live by here, and it’s something we have struggled to do obviously.”
Honestly, it’s hard to believe we’re here. A lot had to go right with this line for things to fall into place. And from the looks of it, all those things happened. Miller developed as a tackle, Incognito was great on and off the field, Rodney Hudson was Rodney Hudson and was named 2nd team All-Pro, and Trent Brown was everything they hoped he’d be at right tackle. And they’re all back next year
Oddly enough, it was the longest-tenured member of the group Gabe Jackson who was the only somewhat disappointment, once again dealing with nagging injuries. With Good playing well, should Jackson falter again, there is a ‘Good’ alternative.
Overall, this line is in very good shape heading into this offseason and the 2020 season in Las Vegas.
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