Las Vegas Raiders: Gabe Jackson guarantees offensive line continuity
The Las Vegas Raiders offensive line is intact with Gabe Jackson’s guaranteed deal.
On Monday, Las Vegas Raiders offensive guard Gabe Jackson saw his salary for the 2020 season, roughly $9.35 million, guaranteed, as reported by Vic Tafur of The Athletic (subscription required). In doing so, the Raiders are bringing back an offensive line for which there should be high expectations in the 2020 season.
Tafur reported that, after Jackson missed time due to injury last season, the Raiders sniffed around on possible trade offers to see if they could move on from the 28-year-old. Instead, he’s staying with the franchise as they make their move to Las Vegas. And that means the entirety of the starting offensive line from last season remains intact.
From left to right, Kolton Miller, Richie Incognito, Rodney Hudson, Jackson and Trent Brown comprise a unit that was strong in the 2019 season but is also improving. PFF ranked them as the No. 15 offensive line in the league but that doesn’t take into account the improvements they could make with continuity.
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Perhaps more so than with any other position group in football, offensive lines thrive off of continuity. The ability to know each others strengths, tendencies and so on allows a unit to ultimately gel and play at their peak. And we could start to see more of that in the 2020 season from Jackson and his cohorts.
A dominant line growing on the Las Vegas Raiders
Amidst his injuries last season, Jackson undeniably struggled a season ago. However, he’s still just 28 years old and, per PFF (subscription required), it was his worst season as a pro. And as the 43rd highest-graded guard in the NFL (out of 83), he was the worst graded player on the Raiders offensive line.
Not only can the Raiders expect Jackson to be healthy and to bounce back but they should hope for more from third-year offensive tackle Kolton Miller. The 2018 first-round pick struggled as a rookie but took a giant step forward last season, even if he still wasn’t a star. If he continues to progress, which is reasonable given his athletic tools that he’s developing as a player, that gives Las Vegas no weaknesses in the trenches on offense.
For the way that head coach Jon Gruden has constructed this team, having this offensive line grow together is critical. They clearly want to build the offense behind 2019 first-round pick, running back Josh Jacobs, and also added numerous receiving weapons around Derek Carr this offseason, headlined by Henry Ruggs III.
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Opening up lanes for Jacobs and keeping Carr upright are critical to making everything work, however. With Jackson returning with no doubts about his immediate future, that should be in store. And that should only add to the promise that we’ve seen bubbling up from the silver and black.