The Las Vegas Raiders had the worst offensive line in the NFL last season, but center stood out as a particularly big weakness. Jordan Meredith was out of his element, and the team didn’t have an adequate replacement.
This is why they decided to give a record-breaking contract to Tyler Linderbaum in free agency. The three-time Pro Bowler had a chance to return to the Baltimore Ravens, but took more money from the Raiders.
He has widely been regarded as one of the best centers and overall players in the NFL during his Ravens stint. Even though he’s coming off another strong season, it appears people in the media are already lower on him than they have been in the past.
Heading into last season, CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco had Linderbaum ranked as the 53rd-best player in the NFL. This year, he dropped him all the way down to No. 92.
“He will go a long way toward improving the Las Vegas offensive line. He’s a good run blocker who should help Ashton Jeanty a lot,” Prisco wrote.
Linderbaum wasn’t hurt at all last season, and he’s only 26, so it’s unclear why he’d have such a steep drop outside of the fact that he joined the Raiders.
Linderbaum Ranks Among Biggest Offseason Additions
At the end of the day, preseason rankings won’t determine how good Linderbaum will be for the Raiders. Even if he is the 92nd-best player in the NFL, he’s still a massive upgrade at center.
Ben Arthur of Fox Sports ranked the offseason additions who will have the biggest impact, and Linderbaum came in at No. 9.
“Linderbaum, a perennial Pro Bowl center for the Ravens, is expected to take significant pressure off quarterback Kirk Cousins (and eventually No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza) in reading defenses pre-snap at the line of scrimmage,” Arthur wrote. “His presence should also create more interior rush lanes for second-year running back Ashton Jeanty, who was frequently hit behind the line of scrimmage as a rookie.”
Rick Dennison on Why He Joined Raiders
The offensive line personnel should be better for the Raiders, but so should the coaching. Brennan Carroll was in over his head as an offensive line coach at the NFL level.
To replace him, the Raiders hired Rick Dennison, who has been coaching in the NFL for three decades, including several years as an offensive line coach. He just won a Super Bowl as an assistant for the Seattle Seahawks and could’ve stayed if he wanted to. However, he wanted to follow Klint Kubiak to Las Vegas.
“Going with Klint, that was pretty much it. And I know Andrew [Janocko],” Dennison told Raiders.com. “And I know Spy [John Spytek] and Starky [Brian Stark] from Denver, they were both over there. It’s easy to go work with people that you know are good people. You want to improve and help and do all you can, and that’s all it was. Klint said, ‘You want to come help me with the Raiders?’ and I said, ‘Sure.’ It’s that simple.”
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