It is no secret that the Las Vegas Raiders' 2025 season was largely derailed by an inept offensive line. Yes, Geno Smith had his struggles, and Chip Kelly was no savior for the offense, but Pete Carroll's son, Brennan, essentially tore the entire unit down due to his inability to coach his group sufficiently.
The worst part about these issues is that they were essentially absent the year prior with the same exact piece. It was a regression that was practically unheard of for an NFL team, and one that both puzzled and frustrated Raider Nation to no end. Especially when it came to a lack of adjustments.
Injuries certainly played a part as well, so with hopefully better health and some offseason additions up front, plus a renowned positional coach in Rick Dennison, Las Vegas should be way better up front. But if for no other reason, the signing of Tyler Linderbaum should transform the entire group.
Just take a look at this quirky offensive line stat from Mike Clay.
Interesting OL stat proves Las Vegas Raiders' unit is just as talented as fans think it is
Clay, an NFL reporter, produced his league offensive line rankings on Tuesday, using a blend of stats that includes pass and run blocking win rates, PFF grade, utilization and a player's pedigree. It's not a perfect science, but the Silver and Black came in at No. 18 overall. League average, as fans thought.
Of course, this was largely aided by the addition of Linderbaum, who has a whopping grade of 8.0 from Clay. Kolton Miller is a great player for Las Vegas on the offensive line, but even he earned a grade of only 6.7. Dylan Parham, from last year's unit, was next-best with a rating of 6.2.
Based on the collection of numbers from last year's starters, the Raiders should have been somewhere around the 26th or 27th-best group in the NFL. While that is still awful by most standards, they shouldn't have been the worst unit in the league in every aspect by a country mile, as they were.
But with Linderbaum now in tow, Las Vegas has a truly elite piece in the center of the offensive line. By this metric, only nine players in the NFL recorded a better grade than Linderbaum did a year ago. This is the 10th-best lineman, regardless of position, in the league that we are talking about.
Apparently, Linderbaum's presence alone, even with the loss of the unit's second-best player, has moved the Silver and Black from a cataclysmic group to merely league average. And with a good coach like Dennison and promising skill position players, league average is more than enough.
Klint Kubiak knows how important the center is to his offense. So does Dennison and offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko. Not only is this a truly elite player coming to Las Vegas, but everyone in the Raiders' building knows that they can use him as an offensive weapon, in a way. And that's huge.
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