Who’s Snapping to Geno? Plus, Jack Bech Makes His Move

BATTLE BREWING AT CENTER

After the Raiders parted ways with Andre James, we all thought it was a foregone conclusion that Jackson Powers-Johnson would step into that role at center and be the guy for the foreseeable future. But not so fast. Pete Carroll’s preached competition at every position since his arrival in Vegas, and as it turns out, that’s no different at center.

On Sunday, we saw JPJ taking reps at center with the twos, and in his place, Jordan Meredith was up with the ones, handing it off to Geno Smith. At first, I shrugged it off. The Raiders had been cycling guys through at multiple positions along the offensive line to take advantage of the versatility of their group up front. I figured they were just making sure he got his reps in. Then on Monday, the first day in pads, Jackson was back with the top unit, so all seemed right with the world. But on Tuesday, the two traded spots again, and Meredith was back with the ones, and it turns out, we’ve got a full-fledged battle going on for the starting center spot.

Yeah, there’s competition going on everywhere, but that’s not a spot any of us had circled heading into camp. So what changed?

I don’t know if Pete is a PFF guy or not, but when you go back and look at their grades, you see why Meredith deserved a second look.

Last season with the Raiders, he played a total of 574 snaps between the right and left guard spots. In that limited action, the graders over at PFF liked what they saw, giving Meredith an 80.8 overall grade (10th among 136 guards), a 75.7 pass blocking grade (16th), and a 78.4 run blocking grade (14th). He also didn’t allow any sacks, gave up just one QB hit, and only took three penalties. The film and their time with Meredith since taking over the Raiders showed the staff enough to open up the competition, and now Meredith has a shot to unseat Powers-Johnson.

I’m not saying it’s a done deal, though. Jackson has been putting in the work, and he earned the trust of Maxx Crosby and Geno Smith in the offseason.

That sounds like a quarterback who expects JPJ to be his starting center if you ask me.

Let’s explore the possibility that Jordan Meredith unseats him at center for a second. What would the staff do with JPJ then? I ask that question because of an interesting answer we got from Adam Butler on Tuesday when he was asked for his assessment of the offensive line.

An All-Pro guard, those are pretty high praises. I wonder if the coaching staff feels the same way? The previous regime drafted him as a guard out of Oregon. He also took 535 of his 956 snaps between the two guard spots last year. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could end up back at guard.

If the staff felt that way, he’d probably end up at left guard, where he took 506 of those snaps last year. That would leave Dylan Parham as the odd man out because let’s be real, Jackson Powers-Johnson is the most talented interior offensive lineman the Raiders have on the roster, so you’re not going to sit that guy completely.

With that in mind, I think this is just an early camp battle that we media folk (and some of you fans, too) are likely overreacting to. My gut says JPJ is the starting center come kickoff in New England, but we’ll find out for sure if that will be the case over the coming weeks.

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JACK BECH IMPRESSES IN PADS

In this year’s NFL Draft, the Raiders selected Jack Bech out of Texas Christian University with the 58th overall pick. Two rounds later, they went back to the receiver well and added Tennessee’s Dont’e Thornton at 108. That’s not an astronomical difference in draft position, but one would expect Bech to have the leg up given where the team drafted him. Many coaches preach that they don’t care where a player was drafted; they’re going to play the best players. History tells us that’s not always the case. Clearly, they don’t care when a player was drafted.

Ever since minicamp, Thornton has been rolling predominantly with Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker on the top unit. I’ve even said it here in the newsletter, on the podcast, and on X (Twitter) that Bech hadn’t produced a ton of splash plays, or at least not as much as Thornton had. But that all changed on Monday when the Raiders threw on the pads for the first time. That’s when his game came alive.

It took a while, but when the real football started, the 2024 Biletnikoff Award semifinalist stepped up in a big way. You saw the praises Pete placed upon him; it’s clear he had a well-rounded showing, but Pete isn’t the only one who’s taking notice of Bech.

Thornton has gotten the bulk of the work with the ones when they’re in 11 personnel (three wide receivers, one tight end, and one running back). Bech has taken the majority of his reps with the twos but has been able to show off his versatility in a big way.

He isn’t just lining up all over the formation; he’s also getting a ton of work on special teams, and special teams coordinator Tom McMahon feels his physicality is going to be a major asset for them in that area of the game.

So while some fans may be wondering why they took Bech in the second round if he’s going to be relegated to the second team, I’d understand that, but there’s more to it. Thornton provides them a look and a skillset nobody else in the receiver room can replicate; that frame and his speed are just different, so he’s a no-brainer to get the look with the ones. But Bech seems like a guy who will be able to make a big impact on special teams right away, and has a play style similar to that of Jakobi Meyers, so he could spell the veteran at times and be a possible replacement for him down the road, too.

Either way, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Bech now that the pads are on, and it seems Pete Carroll is doing the same.

OBSERVATIONS FROM PRACTICE

• After stacking back-to-back good days together, CB Decamerion Richardson got a lot of burn with the ones opposite Eric Stokes. Pete spoke highly of newcomer JT Woods following practice on Tuesday, but it feels like it’s a two-horse race between D-Cam and Darien Porter for that other corner spot.

• With that in mind, it does feel like Jakorian Bennett is the odd man out in this competition at corner. He doesn’t have the frame a lot of the other guys who are getting more reps do, and that’s a thing for this staff.

• Alex Bachman is a real shifty dude. He just keeps making plays throughout camp, and Pete said that isn’t going unnoticed either.

• Jamal Adams as a WILL linebacker is interesting. He worked with the twos on Tuesday and was flying around. He’s going to be a problem for tackles coming around the edge.

• Devin White, the guy who’s been taking the first team WILL reps, was flying around too. He came down with a nice interception in coverage down the right sideline against Geno and the ones, and had at least one would-be sack that I saw, too.

• Lonnie Johnson Jr. also came down with a pick against Aidan and the twos. I didn’t see that one. Another media member who had a better look at it had to fill me in on that; they were pretty far away from us on the indoor fields.

• We’ve seen a couple of little scuffles in the last few days, but today it looked like Justin Shorter hit Jakorian Bennett when the play was on the other side of the field. The defense thought it was a cheap shot, and the sidelines partially cleared, Maxx hopped in there and was not happy with him. Nothing major to write home about, but something to write into the newsletter for sure because it shows Maxx has his guy’s back.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We've got the day off today! No practice for the Raiders, but we’ll be back out there on Thursday for their seventh day of practice.

With that in mind, make sure you check out the latest episode of the Silver & Black Sports Network Podcast. That’s up on YouTube if you prefer to watch, or available in audio-only versions wherever you get your podcasts. We dove into the developing battle at center we touched on above, recapped Devin White’s possible resurgence, and more!

A programming note for you guys. We were planning on doing podcasts in our normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday cadence, but during camp, we’re switching things up. There’s so much going on, so we want to give you guys all the insight we can. For the rest of camp, we’ll be dropping a podcast every day after the Raiders have a practice, so subscribe to the pod however you consume it so you don’t miss any of our episodes.

The support on the first podcast was insane. I can’t thank you guys enough for the kind words! This has been a fun venture so far, and I’m stoked that so many of you are enjoying the content.

Catch ya next time,