The Las Vegas Raiders were very excited about Jackson Powers-Johnson when they drafted him in the second round of the 2024 draft. He was a star at Oregon and was expected to be a first-round pick before falling to the Raiders.
When he has been able to play, he’s been mostly solid. Early in his career, there was debate about whether he should play center or guard. With the Raiders signing Tyler Linderbaum in free agency, Powers-Johnson can now focus on playing guard.
However, it might not matter much. Many have expected him to be one of the starting guards this season, but he hasn’t earned it yet. Last year, Powers-Johnson was clearly on the outs with the coaching staff.
The Raiders cleaned house and brought in a new staff this offseason. According to former Raiders wide receiver Ryan Hoag, Powers-Johnson might not be vibing with the current coaching staff either.
“I will say that just the relationship, it seems like Jackson Powers-Johnson has with the coaching staff, just from my observation of one practice, it seems a little unsettled,” Hoag said on the “Silver & Black Sports Podcast.”
“I don’t know if it’s because Jackson’s always like the rah-rah hype guy, you know, I’m first to do a radio interview or whatever, but it just seems like that type of like mentality with the team, at least this coaching staff, is just like, ‘No, we’re not going for that.’”
Is There Merit to What Hoag Said?
Hoag made this observation based on one practice, and he’s not some deeply embedded Raiders insider, so this mostly seems like speculation. That said, beat writer Jesse Merrick did some digging, and it doesn’t sound like people in the Raiders organization went to bat for Powers-Johnson.
“He said that he doesn’t believe Jackson Powers-Johnson will start a single game for this team,” Merrick said of Hoag’s prediction. “That’s a hot take in every sense of the word. That is a Hoag hot take. Not one that I think is true, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. I’ve talked to plenty of folks since Ryan said that, and I haven’t gotten a lot of pushback. Maybe not to the sense of not a single game, but I haven’t gotten a ton of pushback from folks when it’s talked about.
“Maybe he’s just not being that guy. That’s kind of what I’m getting at here. Again, I like him. I like what he brings to the table. We’ll see what the staff thinks of him. We got a long runway to get there, but I’m just saying it’s not that wild of a take given the conversations I’ve had with people.”
Why Would Powers-Johnson Be on the Outs Already?
By all accounts, Powers-Johnson is a hard worker and good teammate. He does have a lot of personality.
He likes to talk, which could be what has rubbed some coaches the wrong way. Still, plenty of great players talk, so that shouldn’t be enough to take Powers-Johnson off the field if he’s still one of the team’s five-best offensive linemen.
It’s too early in the offseason to know for sure where he stands, but he’ll once again be a player to watch at the start of training camp.
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