If the Las Vegas Raiders had a game next Sunday, we'd probably see two or three locked-in offensive line starters and some level of competition or rotation at the remaining spots. Thankfully, a meaningful game is still roughly three and a half months away, so there's time to sort things out.
With a thirst to see anything football-related in May, it's easy to overreact to anything that happens during OTAs. And attendance is voluntary until mandatory minicamps in June, not to mention, players aren't even wearing pads.
That said, and as the media is allowed to see exactly what a team wants them to see during limited access to OTA practices, there are things that can be learned during this time. On the offensive line front a year ago, we saw the roots of the Raiders' incredibly flawed plan in the early going.
Spencer Burford is already impressing at Las Vegas Raiders OTAs
With all of the full and ongoing caveats mentioned, one player still seemed to really impress people during the first week of the Raiders' OTAs. First, as a guest of JT The Brick on Raider Nation Radio, Jesse Merrick of the Silver and Black Sports Network talked about his reaction to said player.
"We’re at the stage right now where we’re just now seeing the team out there with our own eyes and getting used to who’s in what numbers and everything. On one of the running plays, and I forget what number he is off the top of my head, but I remember thinking like, ‘Whoa, wait, who was that guy?'” Merrick said.
“He was moving for a big dude, and I looked him up, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the new offensive lineman, Burford, they signed."
"Burford" is, of course, guard Spencer Burford, who was a later free agent signing by the Raiders this offseason.
Merrick continued with his praise of the veteran.
“So, he caught my eye, just in terms of the way that he’s moving, which we all know is massive in this scheme, you know? His movement skills stood out to me. I understand who Tyler Linderbaum is and all this stuff, and I hope no one takes this the wrong way. Burford caught my eye because of that movement more than any other offensive lineman in that particular moment and stretch of plays.
“The athleticism jumps off the page to me, and I don’t think it should be a massive shock that he’s slotted in right now. Let’s say, May 21st, as a quote-unquote starter, if you will, because he’s got familiarity in this offense, with this staff, all those different things."
Burford started 13 games at right guard for the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, when Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak was the passing game coordinator there. So that's the "familiarity in this offense" Merrick referred to.
After that same OTA practice, on Raider Nation Radio's Morning Tailgate, Vincent Bonsignore of The California Post shared a similar sentiment about Burford.
"They started the session, if you want to talk about the starting five that first went out there, Spencer Burford was at one of the guard spots,” Bonsignore said. “Doing some digging around, there’s a real expectation inside the building that he’s probably going to claim one of the starting jobs at guard. So what does that mean for Jackson Powers-Johnson? What does that mean for Caleb Rogers?”
“Why Spencer Burford? There’s a couple of reasons why he’s looked at pretty favorably within the Raiders," Bonsignore said. "Number one, he’s only 25 years old. He’s started on a Super Bowl team with the 49ers… but he also has plenty of experience playing in this offense. I think that’s one of the big keys to all of this is that he comes from the offense that Klint Kubiak is running up there in San Francisco… and that included a year where Klint Kubiak was one of the key offensive assistants with the 49ers. So there’s familiarity there. There’s experience, a lot of starting experience, he’s also just 25 years old and he has plenty of playing time in this particular offense.”
While his 38 career starts have come at both guard spots, albeit with a strong tilt toward the right side (29 starts), Burford was spotted playing left guard at that OTA practice by multiple reporters.
At this point, it's safe to say that Kubiak and his staff are only fully committed to Tyler Linderbaum at center and Kolton Miller at left tackle when it comes to the starting offensive line. Jackson Powers-Johnson should be a starter at one of the guard spots; it's just a matter of which one.
If he keeps his early momentum going, Burford will have a significant say in where Powers-Johnson ends up (and no, it won't be on another team upon being traded). By the time training camp comes, someone may have to obviously outperform Burford to take a starting guard spot from him.
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