The Raiders’ offensive line is under the microscope, and Spencer Burford looks like the man most in danger of losing his job.
Burford has become the unit’s soft spot through five weeks, and the numbers are rough. Pro Football Focus says he has allowed more quarterback pressures than any guard in the league with 18, and in Week 5 he was tagged with a pass-blocking grade of zero.
That’s enough to raise the pressure on the starting lineup, especially with Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers openly wondering whether Burford’s spot is about to disappear. On the Las Vegas Raiders Squad Show, Myers pointed to the team’s ongoing struggle to get comfortable in a zone blocking scheme.
“Zone blocking scheme has always been a challenge for the Raiders,” Myers said on the Las Vegas Raiders Squad Show.
“Every time they try to implement it, it’s very difficult. I remember asking Klint Kubiak about it day one when he was introduced about it, and what was it going to take to master it?
Because it’s never been something that’s been easy for the Raiders to do. And [he said] it’s just reps.
It’s just reps. And unfortunately, they’re not there yet and they may have to make a decision.
They may have to decide to make a move from Spencer Burford because he just hasn’t been good.”
Myers also noted that Burford’s value wasn’t only tied to his own play when he arrived from the 49ers.
“[Burford] wasn’t great with the 49ers. But… he did know the system, which helps kind of everyone else around him learn the system as well and start to work as one cohesive unit.
It’s not always the five best players on the offensive line. It’s the guys who work the best together.
So, you know, they penciled him in there at that left guard very early on. I don’t know if there’s a scenario where you can slide Caleb Rogers to that left guard.
I don’t know how much he’s been cross training there.”
The bigger issue is that Burford is only part of a line that has been a mess. The Raiders entered the season with expectations higher than usual up front after bringing in Klint Kubiak and offensive line coach Rick Dennison, but the results haven’t matched the optimism.
Against the Dolphins in Week 1, the line did open lanes in the run game, but the space for Ashton Jeanty has mostly vanished since then.
Tyler Linderbaum, the center who became the highest-paid in NFL history during the offseason, has also gotten off to a shaky start. Among NFL centers with at least 100 snaps this season, Linderbaum ranks 17th by Pro Football Focus.
Through five games, four of the Raiders’ five offensive linemen have been disappointing in one way or another. The exception has been D.J. Glaze, who came into the year with shaky job security of his own but has held up well as a run blocker and has given up only 7 quarterback pressures, according to PFF, despite little help in protection.
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Wednesday practice only sharpened the uncertainty in Buffalo. DJ Moore and Ed Oliver were the only Bills players who did not participate, and both were already unavailable in the previous game, leaving their status something to monitor closely as the week unfolds. Las Vegas has its own questions, with Tonka Hemingway and Jalen Nailor in concussion protocol and their availability still up in the air, so this one may end up being decided as much by the injury report as by anything that happens on the field. [Read more 🡒]