The Las Vegas Raiders may have some issues brewing with the offesnive line. The group has been playing very poorly to start the season, and now there appears to be an ongoing competition at right guard.
Jackson Powers-Johnson got the starting nod in Week 1, but suffered a concussion before Week 2. Alex Cappa started and then kept the job in Week 3 despite Powers-Johnson being healthy.
Powers-Johnson was an early second-round pick just a year ago and played well at times as a rookie. While it appears he has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff, he hasn’t been told anything, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I did talk to Jackson Powers-Johnson, got a chance to talk to Jackson today. He hasn’t gotten any feedback on why he’s in the situation that he’s in,” Bonsignore said on the Vegas Nation “First and 10” podcast, via Raiders Beat.
“We all know that he’s been, I guess, singled out … from center, compete for the center job. Nope, we’re going to go with Jordan Meredith. Now you’re going to go over to right guard to compete with Alex Cappa, a competition that Pete Carroll has maintained continues. I mean, those are his words. That’s not happening at left tackle. That’s not happening at left guard. It’s not happening at right tackle.”
Powers-Johnson is a team player, but Bonsignore could sense that he could be getting frustrated with the lack of clarity he’s gotten from the coaching staff.
“It’s basically Jackson Powers-Johnson who’s been identified as somebody that needs to keep fighting for his job and fighting for playing time,” Bonsignore added. “He has not gotten any feedback from his words to me about why that is, and all he could do is keep putting his best foot forward. … I would not say that he was happy about it. I could tell. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Powers-Johnson Willing to Play Wherever
Powers-Johnson hasn’t been shy about his preference for playing center. He was one of the best centers in college football just a couple of years ago and did play well in the role last season.
However, he’s willing to do whatever the team asks of him.
“The biggest thing is just trying to get better every single day,” Powers-Johnson told Bonsignore. “Whether that’s right guard, whether that’s center, whether that’s left guard. Shoot, if they want me to play D-line, I’ll play D-line. So whatever they want me to do, I’m going to do that 100%.”
Is There More to the Story?
It seems very odd that Powers-Johnson wouldn’t get any feedback from the coaching staff. He’s a recent high draft pick who has shown some promise. The coaches should be working very closely with him.
Head coach Pete Carroll has taken a lot of heat lately over the Powers-Johnson situation, but he’s got a lot of other things to balance. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and offensive line coach Brennan Carroll are the ones working with him every day. In a season that should be all about developing young talent, it makes next to zero sense to take snaps away from Powers-Johnson in favor of Cappa, who is a known commodity at this point in his career. There has to be more going on behind the scenes that hasn’t been reported on.
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