The Raiders underwent a transformation this offseason, hiring a new head coach and general manager in Pete Carroll and John Spytek and trading for Geno Smith to start at quarterback.
Their offensive line will be more of a constant with five returning players who were on the field for at least 50% of the team’s offensive snaps in 2024: Kolton Miller, Jordan Meredith, Jackson Powers-Johnson, Dylan Parham, and Delmar Glaze. Those five were also the Raiders’ starters (from left to right) to close the season.
There was some turnover; veteran center Andre James signed with the Chargers in free agency and former Bengals and Buccaneers guard Alex Cappa arrived in Las Vegas on a two-year, $11MM deal. Cappa is expected to take over at right guard with Powers-Johnson staying at center, per The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, setting up a competition between Parham and Meredith for the starting left guard job.
With significantly more experience as a starter, Parham should have pole position. The 2022 third-rounder started all 34 regular-season games at right guard in the first two years of his career and added 14 more in 2024. He missed two games due to injury and finished the season with 882 total snaps, which upgraded his 2025 salary to $3.656MM via the league’s Proven Performance Escalator system. Parham has minimal NFL experience at left guard, but he started 28 games there during his college career at Memphis.
Meredith didn’t earn a starting job out of training camp last year, but stepped into a starting role when Parham went down with a foot injury. He stayed in the starting lineup by moving to left guard in Week 9 after Powers-Johnson took over for James at center. Meredith finished the season with six starts (365 total snaps) at left and two starts (209 total snaps) at right guard, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He is in the final year of his UDFA contract, but can be retained as a restricted free agent for the 2026 season.
If Parham can successfully flip to the left side, he should be able to hold onto a starting job for the fourth year in a row, with Meredith likely backing up both guard spots as he did last season.