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Las Vegas Raiders center Rodney Hudson, left, stretches during an NFL football training camp practice Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in Henderson. (AP Photo/John Locher, Pool)
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020 | 2 a.m.
On paper, few teams in the NFL can match up with the Raiders’ first-string offensive line.
Las Vegas can lay claim to having the game’s undisputed best center, the highest-paid right tackle in league history, an up-and-coming former first-round pick at left tackle, a four-time Pro Bowler at left guard and a seventh-year veteran at right guard. It’s an impressive group, and one that should be even better this season as all five starters from 2019 return in the same positions.
Analytics-based sites are recognizing it as perhaps the league’s best unit. Football Outsiders ranked the Raiders sixth in pass blocking and sixth in run blocking in 2019, while Pro Football Focus named the Las Vegas line as the NFL’s best heading into 2020 on long-developing pass plays.
So when the Raiders are touted as a potential playoff team this season, the optimism starts up front.
Left guard Richie Incognito has been a big piece of the puzzle in building an elite blocking unit. He was seen as a reclamation project when Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock lured him out of retirement last offseason, but Incognito delivered a steady performance on the field, starting 12 games and allowing just one sack.
Though viewed as a personality problem and, ahem, locker-room disruptor earlier in his career — most of his career, actually — Incognito has emerged as a leader for the Raiders.
On Wednesday, the 37-year-old said the offensive line adjusted well to the unusual structure of training camp and will be ready to roll when the season opens next Sunday.
“I’m excited for this group,” Incognito said. “We were limited in that first section of camp where we would go out and do walkthroughs and stuff like that, but as soon as we put the pads on it’s been full speed ahead. It’s been good. We’re looking to bond as fast as possible as an offensive line.”
Lining up next to Incognito at left tackle is Kolton Miller, the former No. 15 overall pick who overcame a shaky rookie season to emerge as a strong blindside protector last year. On Incognito’s other shoulder is Rodney Hudson, the league’s top pass-blocking center five years running, according to PFF.
At right guard, the Raiders are very happy with the play of Gabe Jackson, who has yet to make a Pro Bowl despite knocking on the door for several seasons now.
To this point in the “preseason,” the only question mark along the line is Trent Brown, who signed the richest contract for an offensive lineman last offseason. Brown lived up to that historic deal in 2019, allowing just one sack through 11 games before a torn pectoral muscle ended his campaign.
Brown was not present for the first two weeks of training camp, and made only a cursory appearance last Thursday. The massive (6-foot-8, 380 pounds) Brown went through some light drills but then did not participate in the team’s mock game at Allegiant Stadium the following day. He hasn’t been spotted at practice since then.
Gruden, for what it’s worth, has not seemed too stressed about Brown’s status, and the team traded away reserve swing tackle David Sharpe for a low-round draft pick on Tuesday, which Mayock may not have done if he was worried about Brown’s health.
Incognito thinks the Raiders have enough familiarity along the line to get along, but with the season opener at Carolina looming just 10 days away, he’d like to get the starting unit locked in as soon as possible.
“Offensive line continuity is big,” Incognito said. “We’ve really got to figure out who those top five guys are and get them in there.”
Whether Brown’s situation is a real concern or just a case of a large man needing a couple extra weeks to get his conditioning up, Las Vegas should be able to build its offensive identity around its blockers.
“It’s a fact of life in the NFL,” Incognito said. “You are going to have to play with the backups, so it’s important that your top-seven, top-eight offensive linemen get in there and get a lot of reps together.
“I think the strength of this group is its depth and its numbers,” he continued. “We’re pretty rock-solid beyond our top five and when we do get our top five going we’ll be one of the better units in the NFL.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
