Oakland Raiders Offensive Line Now a Strength

Nov 2, 2013; Columbia, SC, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs offensive linesman Gabe Jackson (61) in the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks defeated the Bulldogs 34-16. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Gabe Jackson

In 2013, Wisniewski trimmed himself down to 307 to fit the zone-blocking system and he was still bigger than his guards. He was a guard himself in 2011 in the power-blocking scheme and and bulked back up to 320 last year to power block again. This year for the first time since joining the Raiders, he won’t be the biggest man on the interior of the offensive line. It won’t even be close as the Raiders now have Gabe Jackson, the 6’3″, 340-pound road grader, in the fold at left guard. He is one of the guards that can handle 4-3 defensive tackles in the run game to free Wisniewski up to go to the next level. In college, he was an absolute masher in the run game with surprising acceleration to pull and nimble feet for pass blocking. Coming from the SEC, where most defensive tackles in the NFL come from, Jackson’s transition won’t be too big. And Tafur, my training camp eyes, had good things to say about his performance to date in camp . So consider his transition made and look forward to big things from the big man as Wisniewski will like playing next to him.