The Las Vegas Raiders Big Change Could Pay Off Early
The Las Vegas Raiders addressed a key need this offseason when they hired Rick Dennison to lead the offensive line coaching in 2026. The offensive line and protecting the quarterback was a major problem for the Raiders in 2025 and Justin Churchill notes that it's clear that the changes made are already paying off.
Video Transcript
This is not only one of my favorite clips from training camp, but I think it's a lot of Raider Nation's favorite clips from training camp, and for a very good reason.
I'm Justin Church of AZ Sports Las Vegas, and this clip is hilarious because we all know what the Raiders went through last year on their offensive line.
And I think every Raiders fan and media member, or almost every media member, mentioned at some point that the offensive line coaching going down, with the Raiders was just not good.
Brennan Carroll, the son of Pete Carroll, was the offensive line coach, and we have since heard reports and rumors that the coaching was so bad that during practice, the players kind of just ran things themselves, and then outside of practice they all met up together and did workouts by themselves because that's how bad it was.
And that reflected on the field.
They had the worst offensive line, run and pass, in the entire NFL.
And then you come with nearly the same, nearly the same unit this year.
Obviously, they added Tyler Linderbaum, a top two, three center in the league, and now they're suddenly okay.
Now, that is n- it's not by coincidence that that, that, that, happens.
Sure, Linderbaum fixes a lot of that, but it's also offensive line coach Rick Dennison.
And Charles Grant spoke on offensive line coach Rick Dennison recently, at training camp.
He said, quote, "He has a lot of wisdom that I'm trying to get.
He's thinking on levels that I'm not thinking at, so just being able to be in the same room gets me thinking at a higher level," end quote.
And, this is perfect because we didn't hear any type of praise like this last year.
Like, not once, I'm pretty sure.
Everybody loved Pete Carroll, and I'm not s- here to say that Brennan Carroll is a bad guy.
But we never heard praise about his coaching of the offensive line.
And this, it definitely came off as a hire that Pete Carroll made for whatever reason to get his son on the staff, and that reflected in the play on the field.
And, you know, we've said it a million times, but things definitely feel different now.
Even having a guy like Rick Dennison, who is seasoned when it comes to coaching the offensive line, you can already tell.
And the offensive line is going to be the biggest part of this team this season because, for one, you gotta protect the quarterback.
Whether it's Kirk Cousins or Fernando Mendoza, you can't win games if you don't protect the quarterback.
And if Fernando Mendoza's out there, your future franchise guy, you've just gotta have a good offensive line, especially for a rookie coming out there.
For two, the Raiders can have the best running back duo in the league.
I truly believe that.
Ashton Jeanty can be a top five to 10 running back in the league, and then Mike Washington Jr. Has already shown that he can be one of the best, if not the best, backup running back in the NFL.
But none of that matters if you can't block.
And so obviously there, there's still one position battle going on right now on the offensive line.
It is, Jackson Powers-Johnson with Caleb Rogers.
Jackson Powers-Johnson got the starting, reps, in their first preseason game, but, you know, he left practice early on Monday with a trainer.
Caleb Rogers is a guy that the Raiders still really like going into his second year.
But Rick Dennison has his work cut out for him with these guys.
But so far it seems like the work that he has cut out, is maybe not as bad as we originally thought.
Maybe the coaching staff last year was just that bad, when it came to, you know, the offensive line.
So it's really a breath of fresh air to hear the players talk about Rick Dennison in this way and, and hear the other coaches talk about Rick Dennison in this way, because it does feel different, and hopefully the offensive line reflects that in 2026.
