Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders will visit the New York Jets and guard Dylan Parham.
Parham left the Raiders this offseason as a free agent to sign with the Jets. Parham was the Raiders’ first draft pick in 2022, taken in the third round. Parham was at the beginning of a commitment from four different Raiders regimes to build the offensive line.
The Raiders have used eight picks in the first four rounds of the draft on offensive linemen since 2020. They were: John Simpson (fourth, 2020), Alex Leatherwood
(first, 2021), Parham (third, 2022), Jackson Powers-Johnson (second, 2024), D.J. Glaze (third, 2024), Caleb Rogers (third, 2025), Charles Grant (third, 2025) and Trey Zuhn (third, 2026).
However, only Glaze and Rogers are currently starting for the Raiders. Powers-Johnson, Grant and Zuhn are currently backups while Simpson, Leatherwood and Parham are no longer on the roster. There is a thought that Zuhn may replace Rogers in the starting lineup Sunday at the Jets. So, Rogers could join Powers-Johnson players who lost their starting roles.
This is not an ideal payoff for such a strong draft capital investment on the offense line.
Part of the problem is that there have been so many different front offices and coaching staffs. They all have different wants and philosophies when it comes to offensive linemen, so that creates the constant need to start over.
Second-year Las Vegas general manager John Spytek has been vocal about his affinity for offensive linemen and his selections of Rogers, Grant and Zuhn in the third round shows that.
The key is for these young players to develop into depenndable starters so the Raiders can can spread out their premium picks to other areas in the coming years.
