John Spytek and the Raiders don’t plan on doing what teams across the league are going to end up calling them about
The Raiders are going to play Jackson Powers-Johnson.
On Monday, the league focused on the Las Vegas Raiders and the moves they were making, maybe more than any other team. The biggest move? Well, that would have been Vegas landing former Baltimore Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum.
Not only did Vegas fix a huge part of their offensive line to help protect Fernando Mendoza, but they also got someone who’s going to excel in the run game to help Ashton Jeanty. But, for some reason, now there seems to be an idea that one of the Raiders’ best young talents is up for trade. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
According to Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders will not look to trade interior offensive lineman Jackson Powers-Johnson after signing their new center. Many think of JPJ as a center, but he’s also a great guard, and the Raiders plan to pair him with Linderbaum, along with another guard to make an elite interior in the trenches.
Jackson Powers-Johnson was part of a lot of drama last offseason
When JPJ came in as a rookie in 2024, he played 421 snaps at center, and he was pretty good there. Last season, when training camp started, former head coach Pete Carroll and his staff had JPJ in a position battle for the center spot, or at least that’s what was said. It felt like there was never actually a position battle, but instead a battle for one of the guard spots for JPJ. He played well, could have been better, but that stuck with everyone all season long.
Coming into this offseason with no center and an issue at guard, many believed that JPJ would move back to center. However, that was never confirmed. When GM John Spytek spoke to the media at the NFL Draft Combine, he was asked where JPJ would play, and his answer did not confirm that JPJ would be the center.
“Whoever the best five are, they’ll be out there, and I love Jackson [Powers-Johnson]. He had a hard season, obviously, for a lot of different reasons,” Spytek told reporters at the NFL Combine podium. “He’s healthy now, and we’re going to talk to Klint [Kubiak] and Rick Dennison and the O-line group, and we’ll figure out the best five to run with.”
So, with people thinking JPJ would be the new center and them signing a center, maybe some thought the young offensive lineman would be up for trade. But he’s not, and he shouldn’t be. In fact, after this season, if all goes well, the Raiders should immediately begin working on his contract extension.
Powers-Johnson isn’t upset about any of this, either, so don’t take it as him requesting a trade because he’s disgruntled. In fact, he quoted a tweet about the Linderbaum signing showing more excitement than maybe anyone else on the team. That doesn’t mean the Raiders won’t get phone calls for JPJ, because he’s that talented, and teams will likely check in themselves.
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