Jordan Meredith embodied the pivot the Las Vegas Raiders made at offensive line during the 2025 season — literally.
Switching to center from guard, the 6-foot-2 and 301-pound undrafted free agent struggled mightily — as did the rest of the Silver & Black front — under the previous coaching staff. Point the finger at incompetence and/or nepotism, and you wouldn’t be wrong, Meredith went from 2024 standout surprise to 2025 literal liability under the tutelage of both head coach Pete Carroll and offensive
line boss Brennan Carroll.
Anyone with functional vision could see in plain sight the downward trajectory Las Vegas offensive line made and for Meredith, the slide was captured for Pro Football Focus (PFF) grading. The group gave Meredith an 80.8 overall grade in 2024 as a guard. And in as a center in 225, the Western Kentucky product notched a 57.7 overall marks from PFF. Meredith was charted with a low 1.2 percent pressure allowed rate and allowing only 1.5 sacks in 2024 and in 2025, those same numbers read 20 pressures allowed, four sacks yielded, according to PFF.
The 2024 and 2025 campaigns did represent a leap in starts for the 28-year-old — eight starts and 14 games played to a career-high 11 starts with 13 games played. Ditto for snap counts: 574 in 2024, 676 in 2025.
But while the dramatic dip in effectiveness tends to run said player off the roster following offseason, the Meredith’s return to the Raiders was simply inevitable.
This was due to the fact that the offensive lineman was a restricted free agent. These types of free agents don’t have the same free negotiations with teams like their unrestricted counterparts and a tender often results in said player re-signing with their original team.
Such was the case for Meredith who inked his one-year, $3.52 million right of first refusal tender in early April.
Las Vegas decision makers are banking on the coaching staff being the handicap last season and with new head coach Klint Kubiak at the forefront and with veteran Rick Dennison captaining the offensive line, the Raiders are set to find out if the new staff can get the most out of the trench men.
First and foremost, the financial commitment the Raiders made to Meredith is the highest earnings for the lineman. In three seasons in Silver & Black (2022-24), Meredith earned $2.902 million and the $3.52 million he’s slated to earn would be a career high — so there’s financial incentive for the Kentucky native to put his best foot forward. There’s no guaranteed money or dead cap ramifications for either Meredith and Las Vegas so he’ll need to be on the 53-man roster and/or play to earn the tender he inked in April.
Money aside, Meredith brings not only the starting experience but the versatility both Kubiak and Dennison seek from the Raiders offensive lineman. Having played at both guard spots (left and right) and at center, Meredith is the type of plug-and-play veteran that gives Dennison the flexibility to move parts around in case of injury.
But don’t count Meredith completely out of competing for substantial snaps as a starting guard. As our Tristain Kuhn noted as he broke down the Las Vegas Raiders offensive guard battle, the wide zone scheme that Dennison and Kubiak are installing ideally suits the veteran lineman.
Dennison’s system requires linemen who can execute reach blocks and get out in space and Meredith has proven he can do that on run blocks and pass protection. Agility that portends to ideal lateral movement alongside the ability to get up field to take on linebackers and defensive backs is in Meredith’s wheelhouse. It was the lack of power that got him in trouble last season. But Dennison having a clear and concise scheme alongside teaching ability should go a long way into flushing out the, umm, whatever the Carroll’s called their shenanigans out.
With elite center Tyler Linderbaum now in the fold — the Raiders’ prized free agent signing back in mid-March — the pivot is all taken care of. But the two guard spots are set to have an open competition with Jackson Powers-Johnson, Spencer Buford, Caleb Rogers, rookie Trey Zuhn III, and Meredith all vying for the two starting spots on the left and right, and depth. All the aforementioned names are scheme fits as linemen who have the movement skills to succeed in Las Vegas’ zone blocking scheme.
Buford, who came from a similar blocking scheme with the San Francisco 49ers, is getting mixed in with first team during the Raiders offseason activities thus far and it’ll be interesting to see the team’s alignments when mandatory minicamp kicks off June 9. That’ll be followed by training camp in late July.
- Best case for Meredith in 2026: He beats out Powers-Johnson, Buford, Rogers, Zuhn for a starting spot.
- Most likely case for Meredith: He’s quality depth in case the Raiders have to play musical chairs to mitigate injuries up front.
- Worst case for Meredith: He’s cut and the Raiders have no dead-money ramifications.
With Kubiak and his coaching staff in place, it’s safe to assume that there’s nary a position set in stone this early in the offseason outside the obvious ones — Kolton Miller at left tackle, Linderbaum at center, Ashton Jeanty the starting running back, Brock Bowers the starting tight end, Maxx Crosby a starting edge rusher, etc. And competition does tend to bring out the best in the roster.
The caveat there, of course, is competition is combined with competent coaching and development. That’s very much up in the air, too, despite the Kubiak’s and Dennison’s accomplishments elsewhere.
