Raiderstation

Mike Tice once said while coaching for the Raiders: “If you look at the offense like a fancy car, the offensive line is the engine. Even though we might have nice spinners and nice rims and tinted windows and some neat paint job, it doesn’t mean crap without the engine. If the engine’s not working, the car might look like a pretty nice car, but it’s a piece of crap.” And he was 100% right. I wish we had him back. Changes must be made on the O-line. Charles Grant is a very athletic lineman. We should give him some reps at right tackle. Bring back Powers-Johnson as the starter at center. Parham has got to go. Maybe we should consider moving Meredith back to guard. He did so well there last year.

Back to the line for a minute. A couple of posters here are sure that Spencer Burford was a dumb signing. I have posted that I think he will be the surprise positive of the rebuilt O-line. CBS Sports agrees with me.

OG Spencer Burford
After starting 29 regular-season games over his first two seasons, Burford has been limited to just nine starts between the 2024 and 2025 seasons with the 49ers. Playing alongside Trent Williams had been a good situation, but Burford now steps into a better situation sandwiched between Kolton Miller and Tyler Linderbaum. There are deficiencies in Burford's game, but new head coach Klint Kubiak had done a good job relieving some of the stress his offensive line shouldered through the scheme.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl- ... e-in-2026/

RunOverByHubbard wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 7:34 am Back to the line for a minute. A couple of posters here are sure that Spencer Burford was a dumb signing. I have posted that I think he will be the surprise positive of the rebuilt O-line. CBS Sports agrees with me.

OG Spencer Burford
After starting 29 regular-season games over his first two seasons, Burford has been limited to just nine starts between the 2024 and 2025 seasons with the 49ers. Playing alongside Trent Williams had been a good situation, but Burford now steps into a better situation sandwiched between Kolton Miller and Tyler Linderbaum. There are deficiencies in Burford's game, but new head coach Klint Kubiak had done a good job relieving some of the stress his offensive line shouldered through the scheme.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl- ... e-in-2026/

Valid point...Burford could learn a lot playing between those two...may even help to elevate his game.

I hope you guys are right about Burford. I am not a fan, but we all hope for the best. Unfortunately, he can not solely rely on being surrounded by studs, especially Tyler (who will have his hands full helping out on the other side as well). He needs to put his big boy pants on. I am not going to sit here and tell you I have actually watched much of him. I will say I know a die hard Niner fan (who I respect and knows the game) who says he is happy he is gone. I preciously shared a story about fans getting excited over a new player. My friend is a die hard Jets fan. He was excited about Parham and sent me a feel good article about him. I had to burst his bubble. I know Rome was not built in a day. That being said, I am not happy (I hope I am dead ass wrong) with our OL (on paper which means nothing). I know we took that first big step in Tyler, but I think we turned our back on some opportunities to build the rest of the OL. It almost seems like we have a new Ferrari in the garage with bald tires (sorry to be pessimistic). We have done great things on offense and am dying to see it come to fruition. I am scared for Jeanty not being able to operate to his full potential and Mendoza's development getting sidetracked. Sorry about the long post and hope all are having a great summer.

RI RAIDER wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 9:26 am I hope you guys are right about Burford. I am not a fan, but we all hope for the best. Unfortunately, he can not solely rely on being surrounded by studs, especially Tyler (who will have his hands full helping out on the other side as well). He needs to put his big boy pants on. I am not going to sit here and tell you I have actually watched much of him. I will say I know a die hard Niner fan (who I respect and knows the game) who says he is happy he is gone. I preciously shared a story about fans getting excited over a new player. My friend is a die hard Jets fan. He was excited about Parham and sent me a feel good article about him. I had to burst his bubble. I know Rome was not built in a day. That being said, I am not happy (I hope I am dead ass wrong) with our OL (on paper which means nothing). I know we took that first big step in Tyler, but I think we turned our back on some opportunities to build the rest of the OL. It almost seems like we have a new Ferrari in the garage with bald tires (sorry to be pessimistic). We have done great things on offense and am dying to see it come to fruition. I am scared for Jeanty not being able to operate to his full potential and Mendoza's development getting sidetracked. Sorry about the long post and hope all are having a great summer.

I'm not going to disagree about the concern for the O line. I think it will be a good bit improved just because of the coaching but.... I agree we could have done a little better with bolstering it in the draft and FA.

We'll just have to wait and see how this season unfolds. We are another draft and FA season away from being a truely competetive team, IMO. But.......... things are definitely looking up!

RI RAIDER wrote: Thu Jul 09, 2026 9:26 am I hope you guys are right about Burford. I am not a fan, but we all hope for the best. Unfortunately, he can not solely rely on being surrounded by studs, especially Tyler (who will have his hands full helping out on the other side as well). He needs to put his big boy pants on. I am not going to sit here and tell you I have actually watched much of him. I will say I know a die hard Niner fan (who I respect and knows the game) who says he is happy he is gone. I preciously shared a story about fans getting excited over a new player. My friend is a die hard Jets fan. He was excited about Parham and sent me a feel good article about him. I had to burst his bubble. I know Rome was not built in a day. That being said, I am not happy (I hope I am dead ass wrong) with our OL (on paper which means nothing). I know we took that first big step in Tyler, but I think we turned our back on some opportunities to build the rest of the OL. It almost seems like we have a new Ferrari in the garage with bald tires (sorry to be pessimistic). We have done great things on offense and am dying to see it come to fruition. I am scared for Jeanty not being able to operate to his full potential and Mendoza's development getting sidetracked. Sorry about the long post and hope all are having a great summer.

I think we are all going to be happily surprised by our offensive line this year. Coaching is night and day improved. The one area I am concerned with is LT because of Miller and his history of injury. Miller staying healthy is one of the keys to the o-line.

Time to bump this thread from July to the present day. By all measures, the offensive line is greatly improved, and I realize how many of us had trepidations or at best guarded optimism about the fixes. One guy that was trashed by several here was Burford and I spent some time watching them in the Chargers game. He is a very good run blocker and an adequate if not above average pass blocker. I don’t know exactly what he was doing in San Francisco so maybe the coaches here are really good? But in any case, he is more than holding his own. He and the new center are working very well together in handling stunts.

I think it's time to bench Burford and give C. Rogers a chance.

More than likely Rogers ends up with significant playing time at RG whenever JPJ gets hurt. LG is an area to look to upgrade next offseason

erickench wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 8:25 am I think it's time to bench Burford and give C. Rogers a chance.

I agree. We all expected the OL to improve (and it has) between better coaching and the signing of our all world center. I think we all forshadowed this improvement. That being said, we have a ways to go to get to where we need to be. Cousins got the snot beat out of him the first couple of games and would have never survived without BB. BB's presence allows Cousins to call quick routes (hitches, slants, etc.) so he does not hold on to the ball. Nobody can stop BB and allows us worse case to kill a team by a thousand cuts. I still have not been enamored with our pass blocking.

Our run blocking also has not been up to snuff as well if we are being honest. Granted, Jeanty is not himself. That being said, the OL is not giving him consistent holes (many times he has been hit in the backfield). This is forcing him to dance to much. I know some will point out to win rate for OL. I think that is foolish stat (my worthless opinion). I do not want to pick on Burford, but if you watch him, he looks lost out there on many plays. He also has the luxury of playing next to a guy who can hide his warts. JPJ is pubic hair away from an injury (he may already be hurt).

I do not want to crucify anyone in particular and I do not want to come across as a downer (ESPECIALLY THAT WE ARE 3-0). However, we still need to fix this line. Rome was not built in a day and I understand it. Bumping up this thread to say the OL has improved is fine. Bumping up to say Burford is good I think is a stretch (and I hope to EAT my words).

Just think if you go by stats this years Packers team is a lot worse than our '25 oline, I don't know how a lot worse is possible. So stats here seem funny to me. We had plenty of miss assignments that were just as embarrassing as the packs have.

DanKD wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 8:44 am More than likely Rogers ends up with significant playing time at RG whenever JPJ gets hurt. LG is an area to look to upgrade next offseason

I agree, it appears they like Rogers play at RG and my guess would be Zuhn gets the nod at LG if something goes south. In the meantime they probably want continuity along the line.

I urge you to give the work of Burford more study. I would bench JPJ before I benched Burford. I guess the former's injury will cause a change in guards.

RunOverByHubbard wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 12:57 pm I urge you to give the work of Burford more study. I would bench JPJ before I benched Burford. I guess the former's injury will cause a change in guards.

JPJ has the image of being a mauler, but his run blocking has not been good at all. I would expect improvement as he adjusts to the scheme, but the injury won't help that progress. If Rogers plays decent then JPJ may have some extended time on the sidelines.

chucker wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2026 1:31 pm JPJ has the image of being a mauler, but his run blocking has not been good at all. I would expect improvement as he adjusts to the scheme, but the injury won't help that progress. If Rogers plays decent then JPJ may have some extended time on the sidelines.

Jets seem to have an affection for last year’s OLine. Wonder what they’d give us for JPJ? The window for decent compensation is narrowing fast.

Pola Mao is another guy who will be gone next year. If we could get anything more than a penny for him, Spy is a master GM.

Like I previously said, I hate grades on OL. I have not liked what I have seen from our guards, especially Burford. He is ranked 58th out of 72 OG's overall (64th in pass and 54th in run). I am not going to rag on him because he is just a cheap one year band aid. JPJ is glass and is on the cusp of being unreliable. He has pass blocked well but he run blocking has been poor (one would think it would be the other way around). On a positive note, Glaze has taken a BIG step forward this season and he has exceeded expectations. I know its early but hopefully we have our long time answer at RT.