The offensive line for the Las Vegas Raiders was a major concern heading into the season and the group had some growing pains. Luckily, they’ve started to play much better as the season has gone on. Running back Josh Jacobs hasn’t rushed for 441 rushing yards and six touchdowns over the past three games all by himself.
Jermaine Eluemunor got banged up in Week 7 against the Houston Texans but is back at practice and appears ready to go in Week 8. Despite that, the Raiders are making sure to have extra reinforcement. The team announced that they’ve signed veteran offensive tackle Jackson Barton to the active roster.
Barton was previously on the team’s practice squad and has suited up for two games this season. He’s been in the NFL since 2019 but has only played in four career games. He’s still a young player at 27 and it appears he’s shown the Raiders enough to give him a shot.
In addition to the Barton signing, the team announced that they’ve boughten back veteran defensive tackle Kyle Peko and rookie cornerback Bryce Crosby to the practice squad. The Raiders haven’t gotten much pass rush help from their defensive tackles and perhaps Peko could help in that regard as he had 2.0 sacks last season. Crosby was signed as an undrafted free agent of the Raiders this offseason but hasn’t played a game yet.
Raiders Also Sign Sebastian Gutierrez, Release Javelin Guidry
With Barton going to the active roster, the Raiders replaced him on the practice squad. The team announced the signing of former New England Patriots offensive tackle Sebastian Gutierrez. He has yet to play in an NFL game yet.
The Raiders revealed that they’ve released veteran cornerback Javelin Guidry from the practice squad.
Josh McDaniels Praises OL Improvements
The trade deadline is nearing the NFL and there will likely be some talk of the Raiders adding some offensive line help. After Week 1, that seemed like it would be necessary. However, the group has seriously improved its play and Las Vegas may not need to give up assets to add help. Head coach Josh McDaniels praised how the offensive line has improved.
“We want to be a tough, physical team. There’s no shortcut to that. You have to do the hard things, you got to practice in pads, you got to do the drill work that’s required of you to improve in those areas,” McDaniels said Monday. “You got to double team each other, you got to work hard at it. You can’t just say we’re going to be a tough team and then all of a sudden that happens. That’s all about work and you earn that. You earned the right to be a tough team with what you do during the week. And I think our guys have not flinched at all from the time we started training camp and really started talking about that identity and see if we can develop that on our team. I think we do have a lot of tough guys and when you take a lot of tough guys that work hard and want that to be their own identity, then they have a chance to create it.”
