We’re less than a week away from the Las Vegas Raiders’ rookies reporting to training camp, making this our last pre-camp mailbag of the summer. We’re continuing to dive into the Raiders’ roster, with a heavy emphasis on the offensive line since there are several position battles in the trenches. Let’s get to it!
A: First, thank you! Marcus and I appreciate the support and the kind words!
I understand where the thought process is in comparing the beginnings of Kolton Miller’s and DJ Glaze’s careers since both struggled in pass protection early on. But one of the big differences between those two is that Miller was an elite athlete coming out of UCLA while Glaze wasn’t/isn’t. For comparison, the former earned a 9.98 Relative Athletic Score while the Maryland product had just a 5.75 during their respective NFL combines.
Miller’s biggest issue as a rookie was his play strength and thus, handling power rushers. Meanwhile, Glaze’s problem is the opposite, where he has trouble staying in front of speed rushers. It’s a lot easier to put 10 to 15 pounds of muscle on a young player than it is to make a 315-pounder more athletic. The scientific reasoning behind that is way above my head and would take someone who knows much more about physiology than I do to explain, but it just is.
I’d imagine it’s easier for the body to adjust to carrying more weight when it already has a good/elite athletic foundation, and there’s a bigger element of genetics involved in athleticism than there is with strength. Plus, even us common folk can relate to how easy it is to put on weight as we get older, LOL!
Miller is living proof of that. He was listed at 310 pounds during his last year at UCLA and was 309 at the 2018 NFL Combine, and the Raiders’ roster currently has him at 326 pounds. Meanwhile, Glaze already had the size and strength, weighing 328 pounds at Maryland and putting up 29 bench press reps during his pre-draft process. However, what’s concerning about Glaze is that he tipped the combine scale at 315 and still put up underwhelming testing numbers.
So, can a young tackle make big improvements with their footwork and lateral agility? Sure, it’s possible. But it helps if they already have a good athletic foundation and it’s more of a technique issue. Glaze doesn’t have the former, which is why his issues in pass protection are more concerning.
Another big difference between the two tackles is that Miller got better from years one to two, while Glaze regressed after a solid rookie season. Of course, last year’s coaching staff was abysmal—especially Brennan Carroll—to give the 2024 third-round pick some slack. However, it’s a lot more difficult to say they’re on the same career trajectory when they’re starting on different paths.
All of that being said, Glaze still has a chance to prove himself under better coaching with Rick Dennison. But he has to earn his spot back, and personally, I like Charles Grant to win the position battle.
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A: Even if everyone hits their peak, I wouldn’t expect the offensive line to be much better than an average unit in the league. There are so many young players in the Raiders’ trenches that there’s going to be some struggles this season, especially early on. It doesn’t help that the majority of the line will be in position battles and splitting reps with the first-team offense during training camp, rather than having the same five linemen working together throughout camp. So, they’re going to have to build chemistry on the fly during the regular season.
Realistically, I think you can expect that at least one weak link up front this year that will have to be addressed in the offseason. It’d be nice if the Raiders can get all five spots figured out to have a core of starting offensive linemen for a few years, and they have plenty of options for that to happen potentially. However, that’s a perfect world, which doesn’t seem to exist with this franchise!
If the team goes into this season with three starting spots open and fills two of them with surefire starters moving forward, where only one position is a question mark, that’s a win heading into the 2027 offseason.
A: What you’re seeing is likely a result of three out of five or 60 percent of the starting offensive line spots being open, and seven players could reasonably fill those openings. Also, I’d imagine the coaching staff has the guys who are competing with each other rotating back and forth between the different teams, so it’s hard to gauge who’s in the lead and who isn’t at this stage. Plus, there’s a lot of versatility where just about every lineman in the competition could conceivably play a different position day by day or week by week.
The Raiders have had plenty of position battles at offensive line over the years, but I can’t remember when the jobs have been this wide open heading into training camp. On top of that, keep in mind that any practice report to date has been on unpadded practices. So any depth chart that comes out now isn’t going to mean much until the pads come on during Week 2 of training camp anyway.
Q: With all the issues that the Raiders have had on the offensive line in recent years, I’m wondering why Dalton Wagner has not even gotten onto the field? He’s been on the practice squad a long time. Is he that big of a project? Some of the bodies that we put out there haven’t gotten the job done.
A: This probably isn’t a satisfactory answer, but Wagner just hasn’t really done much to show that he deserves to be on the field. He’s been solid during the preseason, but he hasn’t stood out enough to command playing time or even a roster spot. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised the 27-year-old (turns 28 in October) has lasted this long in Las Vegas.
I’d expect this summer to be the “now or never” type of training camp where he either earns a spot on the 53-man roster or tries his luck somewhere else, meaning I’d be surprised if he’s back on the Raiders’ practice squad. There aren’t many players who stick around with one organization for four years and never get any (or very minimal) regular-season action, especially when they’re as close to 30 as Wagner is.
A: I like Mike Washington Jr. in the RB2 role behind Ashton Jeanty, and think Washington will probably average about eight to 10 carries per game.
That’s similar to Zach Charbonnet’s workload (11.5 carries per game) last year and Alexander Mattison’s (7.9) in 2021 under Klint Kubiak. I know Kubiak talked about Jeanty being a true bellcow back, but I’ll believe that when I see it. I think he likes having a two-back system too much to lean on one guy, and Washington is such a home-run hitter that you have to give him a touch per drive (or at least every other possession) to see if he can create an explosive play.
After those two, to be honest, your guess is as good as mine. I think Dylan Laube will win that job with Roman Hemby and/or Chris Collier sticking around on the practice squad. But I don’t have a great read on them since it’s two veterans who have barely played and a rookie undrafted free agent. Running back will be a fun spot to keep tabs on during the preseason for sure.
A: It’s a tough spot that John Spytek has put himself in with Dont’e Thornton Jr. On one hand, Thornton was drafted as a project and has an enormously high ceiling with his rare combination of size and speed. But on the other hand, his rookie season was worse than expected, and if the current/new coaching staff doesn’t think they can work with him, then Spytek may have to take that pick on the chin and cut his losses.
So, Thornton’s fate likely rests in how Kubiak and Co. feel about him at the end of training camp. A general manager isn’t changing the coaching staff or even just firing the wide receivers coach after one year in hopes that the next one can get the most out of a fourth-round pick. If Thornton were a first-rounder, then it would be a different story.
As a GM, you have to make the decision that’s best for the team long-term. If the coaches aren’t going anywhere and they’re not high on a player, then what’s the point of keeping the player? All the player would be doing at that point is occupying a roster spot that could go to someone else who is a better scheme fit.
While Thornton has the “traditional X receiver” size, his skill set falls short of that role. His route running was really bad last year, and he struggled on back shoulder and contested catches. A receiver who can’t create separation and can’t adjust so that the quarterback can throw him open isn’t going to last long in the NFL because that’s not a wide receiver; that’s a track star.
Long story short, the Tennessee product’s rookie season was pretty bad and to the point where he’s going to have to show significant improvement this summer to stick around, hence the cut talk heading into training camp.
That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.