At 68 years old and with four Super Bowl rings on his hand, one as a coordinator, Rick Dennison is supremely overqualified to be the Las Vegas Raiders' OL coach. Accomplished men like him hang around on NFL sidelines as consultants or coordinators, not deep in the foxhole as a position coach.
But it was important for first-time head coach Klint Kubiak to find a role for Dennison, as he is not only a great mentor and part of his football family, but the guy knows quite a bit about coaching offensive line. And he's inheriting a group that was the worst in the league last year, so there's work to be done.
Thankfully, though, Dennison doesn't have to do it alone. The Raiders seem to have a four-man crew working around the clock to help the veteran leader in the form of assistant OL coach Ben Wilkerson, offensive run game coordinator Mario Jeberaeel and offensive quality control coach Pete Collins.
And the results speak for themselves so far, as do the players, about how productive things have been in the offensive line room.
Raiders' OL is improving under Rick Dennison and his band of helpers
It is fairly common these days for an NFL team to have both an offensive line coach and an assistant offensive line coach. Heck, even the run game coordinator should be spending a good amount of time in that room, and the quality control coaches need to be in there as well. It's a group effort.
That said, it seems like every time the offensive line room gets praised, both Jeberaeel and Collins get a lot of credit as well. Running backs coach Omar Young went an entire presser this week without mentioning either of those men, and no players at other positions seem to be shouting them out.
Although we're not in the building, the picture that is being painted is one of a whole lot of eyes being diverted to the offensive line room. And that's how it should be: All hands on deck to fix the biggest lingering issue from last year. Kubiak touched on this in a recent media availability.
"I think Rick Dennison and Mario [Jeberaeel] and Pete [Collins] and just our entire offensive line coaches, they're doing a great job of pushing these guys," Kubiak said. "Offensive line-wise, it's just so important that those five guys can come and gel together, and then when one guy goes down, can that next guy play multiple spots? So, we're learning, we're growing. I didn't mention Coach Ben [Wilkerson] as well. We have a lot of good offensive line coaches that are pushing our guys every day."
As I alluded to before, the results speak for themselves. All reports coming out of Las Vegas are that the offensive line looks vastly improved. Even GJ Glaze, who struggled at the onset of camp, is making a big turnaround as the sessions go on. And the competitions are heating up. That's progress.
Kolton Miller, who has seen quite a bit going into his ninth year with the Silver and Black, also touched on how great the experience has been this offseason within the offensive line room, naming each of the coaches by name.
"Yeah, [Dennison], Big Ben [Wilkerson], Mario [Jeberaeel], Pete [Collins]. We have a great coaching staff, and they want to get the most out of us," Miller said. "Even with the bigger group, we get a lot of good work in and Rico's [Rick Dennison] on top of that, for sure."
Free agent signing Spencer Burford echoed this sentiment as well.
"I love the O-line coach here and the O-line staff here," Burford said. "They're real detailed, and they're real genuine as far as what they want. They're real open as far as the different techniques that they teach. Each one of them brings their own flavor, [their] own style to the game. I feel like that's really good, especially with all the talent that we have in the room being so versatile with different guys. They bring out different tools and techniques within each individual in the room, and I feel like they do a great job."
O-line staff. That's a new one.
But it is precisely what the doctor ordered in Las Vegas. Last year, the Raiders' offensive line gave up the most sacks in the NFL and contributed to a league-worst rushing attack for the second straight season. None of that can happen again if the Silver and Black want to stay afloat.
Perhaps even more critical than the Xs and Os, techniques, attention to detail and cohesion that Dennison and Co. are emphasizing, though, is the general vibe in the room. These coaches are asking a lot of these players, but they also have their backs.
“When players feel like coaches have their back, they can go in and go play football and know that every coach is trying to get them better for a common goal," Jackson Powers-Johnson said. "That's what it's all about. All these coaches, they’ve talked about it. They've also showed it. It's been incredible."
What a complete 180 from the Brennan Carroll era.
The Raiders have gone from what was effectively a one-man show, with Pete's son taking both offensive line coach and run game coordinator duties (shoutout to Andy Dickerson as the asst OL coach), and asked four experienced, detailed and honorable men to lead the big boys up front.
That sounds like quite an upgrade to me, and one that should continue paying off in spades.
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