The Las Vegas Raiders are riding the high of a Week 1 victory over the Miami Dolphins, but the Raiders were expected to win that contest. In a way, last week was the feel-good/tune-up game, and this Sunday is Las Vegas’ first real test with a matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
While the Chargers are 0-1, they do have a talented roster and are expected to be contenders this season. So, a Raiders’ win would not only put some distance between them and a division rival, but it would also send a message
to the rest of the league that the season opener wasn’t a fluke and Vegas will surprise some people this season, including me.
One way for the Silver and Black to pull off the upset is to take advantage of arguably the weakest part of Los Angeles’ roster: the interior offensive line. However, a similar statement could be made about the Raiders’ defensive tackles.
The Chargers have already had to pivot from their offseason plan with free-agent signing/center Tyler Biadasz suffering a season-ending injury during training camp, moving rookie second-round pick Jake Slaughter from guard to center. Granted, that’s Slaughter’s natural position, starting there at Florida from 2023 to 2025. But he’s young and struggled as a run blocker in Week 1, posting a 39.0 run-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus (PFF) and a 60.9 mark (on a 50-100 scale) from Pro Football Network (PFN).
Additionally, Biadasz’s injury has led to Los Angeles playing musical chairs at left guard, with Kayode Awosika (35 total snaps) and Trey Pipkins III (20) rotating at the position against the Arizona Cardinals. All signs point toward Awosika holding down that spot moving forward, earning a 71.1 overall grade from PFF and 79.1 from PFN, compared to a 37.1 PFF grade for Pipkins. PFN doesn’t have publicly available data for Pipkins.
At the other guard spot, Cole Strange was another offseason addition and had a rough Chargers debut in pass protection. PFF had him on the hook for five pressures on 35 opportunities for an ugly 10.6 grade, while PFN’s pass-pro formula ranked Strange 53rd out of 61 guards with a 68.1 mark in Week 1.
But again, Las Vegas is still waiting for a defensive tackle to step up.
Tonka Hemingway drew plenty of praise for his training camp performance, which is great to hear from the second-year pro. However, he blended in on limited snaps during the preseason and didn’t stand out against the Dolphins. That isn’t to say Hemingway played poorly by any means, but there is room for him to be more impactful moving forward.
Perhaps the best or most impactful defensive tackle on the Raiders’ roster is the last one added to it: Foley Fatukasi. Despite playing just 18 snaps last week, Fatukasi had half a sack, a batted pass and two ‘defensive stops’ against the run, per PFF. Combine that with how he played in the last two preseason games, and more playing time should be in order for the nine-year veteran.
Thomas Booker IV is in a similar boat, seeing just 19 snaps versus Miami but making the most out of the limited opportunities. Booker flashed a handful of times against the run and also recorded a pair of stops in the season opener. Meanwhile, it feels like Adam Butler and Jonah Laulu are sliding down the depth chart, or at least running that risk.
So, for this week’s game day discussion on The FEED, we’ll be focusing on the interior of the Raiders’ defensive line. This is a good matchup for someone to step up and establish themselves as a starting defensive tackle for the rest of the campaign.
The game kicks off at 1:05 p.m. PST and will air on CBS (check your local listings). I look forward to talkin’ some ball with y’all!
