{"id":22897,"date":"2026-07-31T07:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22897"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:54:11","slug":"raiders-hope-linderbaums-addition-and-millers-return-to-health-boost-ailing-offensive-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22897","title":{"rendered":"Raiders hope Linderbaum\u2019s addition and Miller\u2019s return to health boost ailing offensive line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/30\/Raiders_Camp_Football_13334_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>HENDERSON, Nev. \u2014 Raiders general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/john-spytek\/\">John Spytek<\/a> didn\u2019t hesitate to try to improve the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/nfl\/\">NFL\u2019s<\/a> worst offensive line, a unit that made life miserable last season for quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/geno-smith\/\">Geno Smith<\/a> and running back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/ashton-jeanty\/\">Ashton Jeanty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He snagged three-time Pro Bowl center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/tyler-linderbaum\/\">Tyler Linderbaum<\/a> out of Baltimore by handing him the richest contract ever for an interior offensive lineman.<\/p>\n<p>His presence and the return of standout left tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/kolton-miller\/\">Kolton Miller<\/a>, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury after just four games, was a much-needed boost.<\/p>\n<p>So there is genuine hope in Las Vegas the line will be better, but how much is difficult to tell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think last year there was a lot of moving pieces,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI think the goal is to have the best five out there, build together, add to it each day, and really build for long-term success. This isn\u2019t easy. Coaching O-line takes time and it\u2019s a lot of work. It\u2019s underappreciated. You can\u2019t get too frustrated about it. You\u2019ve just got to find ways to improve each day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to imagine the line being worse than last season, ranking last in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/nfl\/\">NFL<\/a> in allowing 64 sacks and averaging 77.5 yards rushing per game and 3.57 per carry.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/multimedia\/collection\/raiders-hope-linderbaums-addition-2026-1\/\" target=\"_blank\">PHOTOS: Raiders hope Linderbaum&#8217;s addition and Miller&#8217;s return to health boost ailing offensive line<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\"\/>\n<p>Smith was constantly on the run and the now-New York Jet threw a league-high 17 interceptions.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Jeanty was coming off a second-place finish for the Heisman Trophy, and the sixth overall pick of last year\u2019s draft was constantly met in the backfield. He still managed to rush for 975 yards, but his 1.6 yards per attempt before contact, according to Pro Football Reference, was third worst among backs with more than 100 rushes.<\/p>\n<p>Thus it was not surprising that Spytek made improving the line among his highest priorities. He signed Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million contract, with $60 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n<p>Getting Miller back on the field and at full health was almost like picking up a second free agent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re building chemistry, seeing how everybody blocks and how they move,\u201d Jeanty said. \u201cSo we\u2019re all kind of building that right now and growing with each other, and then when the pads come on, it\u2019ll be a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While two of the line spots are locked up, the other three are a little more uncertain, though third-year player DJ Glaze is the front-runner at right tackle.<\/p>\n<p>Spencer Burford, who played the previous four seasons at San Francisco, was the first-team left guard in the first two days of training camp, and third-year pro Jackson Powers-Johnson held down the right side. But there is competition behind them with Caleb Rogers, Jordan Meredith and Atonio Mafi getting second-team work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of talented players at that position, and they\u2019ll make the decision for us,\u201d coach Klint Kubiak said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to coach them up and we also know that whoever (starts) in Week 1 doesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s the starter in Week 17. So we\u2019re always developing and getting guys better throughout the entire training camp and throughout the whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kubiak knows the line must show some improvement to give the offense a fighting chance, and the Raiders have some key pieces to show off beyond Jeanty.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins was brought in to not only lift the offense but act as a transition to expected future starter Fernando Mendoza, drafted first overall by Las Vegas in April.<\/p>\n<p>The first five practices are not in pads, so judging the line\u2019s performance at this point in camp is tricky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re still getting good work with hand placement and guys are having to ID things and target it properly,\u201d Cousins said. \u201cYou also just have snap counts. You have urgency in and out of the huddle, you got conditioning, and you still have a pocket you got to work through. Sometimes the rush may not be as realistic without pads in both directions, but it still gives you something to work off of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pads will go on soon enough and the line will have a better idea of where it stands.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuys come in the building each and every day and want to improve, and that\u2019s all you can ask for out of an offensive unit,\u201d Linderbaum said. \u201cThere are not many more reps until we\u2019re going to be playing our first preseason game, so the more we can jell during that OTA period time and now camp is really critical and important.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"permission\" style=\"padding-top: 25px;\">\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Washington Times, LLC.\n                        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HENDERSON, Nev. \u2014 Raiders general manager John Spytek didn\u2019t hesitate to try to improve the NFL\u2019s worst offensive line, a unit that made life miserable last season for quarterback Geno Smith and running back Ashton Jeanty. He snagged three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum out of Baltimore by handing him the richest contract ever for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/07\/30\/Raiders_Camp_Football_13334_c0-223-5364-3352_s1200x700.jpg?26fb028350671ebb775fbc3d071fefffe3333c26","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}