Raiders' Rising Rookies Taking Leadership Role

The Las Vegas Raiders have a special group of rookie players. The future of the team will be those rookies who will get better with time and experience.

Oct 20, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders center Andre James (68) and Las Vegas Raiders guard Jackson Powers-Johnson (58) driving the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

With now a 2-8 record, the Las Vegas Raiders could start looking at the roster to see who will be here in the future. The Raiders are full of youthful young talent on both sides of the ball.

Now that the season is all but over. Is it time for head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco to play more backup players, give them reps to see what they can do?

Pierce and Telesco hit on the draft in their first one together. That is a positive sign for the Raiders in a tough, disappointing year. We have seen the Raiders' top three picks of the 2024 NFL Draft shine.

Brock Bowers is having an all-time great rookie season as a tight end. Multiple coaches have said how great he already is and do not look forward to facing him in the future.

Jackson Powers-Johnson has played three different positions on the offensive line. Powers-Johnsons has excelled in all of them. And DJ Glaze has put himself in prime position to be the future right tackle for the Raiders.

All three produce. All three are the future of the Raiders offense. We are seeing Powers-Johnson taking over at center. And he is learning how to lead the offensive line.

"Yeah, I think it is pretty interesting to see a rookie go to a position you never played really much in college at left guard," said Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce. "Then one week you know, fill in for someone that is injured. Then, for the next couple of weeks, having to make all the calls. And he has done a really good job. His energy, his presence, his physicality you see throughout the game. High effort. Very smart football player. And when he is controlling the line of scrimmage as a center, making the calls, you see his personality come out more and more. That is where you see those leaderships from a young player start to stand out. I think that is good for our team. The more guys, we can have talked up and taking that leadership role, regardless of their age or experience or money or draft, the better for us."

Getting the young players on the field could serve value for the Raiders next season.

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