The Las Vegas Raiders added Tom Brady's personal health and medicine guy, Alex Guerrero, to the organization this offseason as a Wellness Coordinator. His intentionally abstract job description allows him to have his paws on everything from the training staff to the nutrition team.
His focus has been on minimizing non-contact injuries, and during the preseason, the team was relatively healthy. In fact, the only injuries they really sustained were from impact, as Aidan O'Connell broke his right wrist, Alex Cappa hurt his rib, and Lonnie Johnson Jr. broke a bone in his leg.
Through Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season, the injuries have remained due to impact. Unfortunately, they have plagued players with more pivotal roles, like starters Brock Bowers and Elandon Roberts, who hurt their knee and elbow, respectively. These were the only two on this week's injury report.
Jackson Powers-Johnson shockingly lands on Week 2 injury report
Until Friday, when starting right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson was shockingly added to the injury report. He was not listed as having any ailments during Thursday's practice or walkthrough, and there was no indication that he sustained an injury at practice, so this news came as a shock.
To make matters more confusing, Powers-Johnson's injury is listed as a concussion. There were no previous reports about him sustaining such an injury, so it must have occurred sometime during or between the walkthrough on Thursday and practice on Friday.
Concussions are not an injury that players can "tough through" or mess around with. Given that the game is just three days away now, odds are, the Raiders won't have Powers-Johnson on Monday against the Chargers.
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This would thrust veteran Alex Cappa into the starting lineup, which is not exactly ideal either. However, after a brutal Week 1 performance from Powers-Johnson, there was at least a solid chance that he was supplanted by Cappa in the coming weeks if he did not turn it around.
In better news, Roberts returned to practice on Friday in a limited capacity, so he seems to be trending toward playing. Bowers, however, was a non-participant once again, which puts his status for Monday into even further question.
Beating the Chargers is not out of the realm of possibility for this Raiders team, but it will certainly take a special effort. With three starters potentially out, or at least banged up and not 100%, this uphill battle just got steeper.