One of the biggest winners of the entire offseason might be Raiders 2022 4th Round pick RB Zamir White. White is a RB who we’ve been waiting for to get his chance, partially because he’s one of our dynasty RBs, but also because I’m a Georgia fan. All the dominoes fell exactly as they needed to for White to take over RB1 duties:
- Raiders did not re-sign or tag Josh Jacobs- CHECK
- Raiders did not sign any notable running backs who could split the backfield- CHECK
- Raiders built the trenches- BIG CHECK
The Raiders drafted three players that showed their loyalty, trust, and commitment to Zamir. They drafted Dylan Laube in the 6th who has the potential to be the best pass catching running back to come out in the last few years of Drafts. The Laube pick shows that they wanted a compliment to their guy, not someone to take touches away. Then even before the Laube pick they addressed the trenches. In a surprising, but not at all bad pick, they took Brock Bowers at Pick 13. Despite Bowers having highlight reels as a pass catcher and overall skill player, he is a good blocker. Now pair that with 2023 2nd Rounder Michael Mayer and free agent signing Harrison Bryant. The Raiders now have three of the last five Mackey award winners in their TE Room(Bowers 2x, Bryant x1).
In the 2nd round they added Oregon Center Jackson Powers-Johnson who for the most part was consensually thought of as the Top IOL in the class. Even for us, we weren’t super high on JPJ, we had our concerns, but we believed if he ended up in a run heavier system where he could roll his hips into someone, he could be a force. JPJ now joins an IOL room that includes C Andre James, 2022 3rd Round Pick Dylan Parham, and veteran free agent signing Cody Whitehair.
If that wasn’t enough, in the 3rd this year they added DJ Glaze(who we didn’t get a chance to scout) and UDFA Andrew Coker to compete with 2022 7th Rounder Thayer Munford Jr. for the RT spot.
Antonio Pierce has talked A LOT about playing Raider football, and it feels like that’s exactly the plan here in LV. Two and three tight end sets with an OL that wants to maul the defensive front for a tough, physical runner in Zamir White. Great gets for the offensive plan in Vegas.