Sometimes simply who takes the field can tell a story even more so than what happens on the field. In this case, it showed just how few jobs are safe for the Raiders. Most notably on the offense.
Unlike the Jaguars, who released a long list of names of which players would not be playing, every Raiders player suited up for this one.
With everyone suited up, it was hard to know who would be playing and who would not. And once they took the field for the first play, the message was immediately that there are only a handful of starting jobs that are not up for grabs.
The list of players who didn’t take the field on offense was as follows:
QB Derek Carr
WR Davante Adams
WR Hunter Renfrow
TE Darren Waller
LT Kolton Miller
That’s it. That’s the list.
The real chin stroker was Josh Jacobs starting the game and playing a couple drives. The team didn’t pick up his fifth-year option this offseason, and he is not a sure thing to be this team’s workhorse back this season.
Jacobs will have a battle on his hands against the likes of Kenyan Drake, Zamir White, and Ameer Abdullah.
Every offensive line spot outside of Kolton Miller is not a lock to be the starter and thus no one else sat this game out.
The starting line for this game was as follows:
LT Brandon Parker
LG John Simpson
C Andre James
RG Lester Cotton Sr
RT Alex Leatherwood
Simpson figures to have the best chance of remaining the starter come the season. But the battles for most of these jobs will continue throughout camp, especially on the right side.
The rest of the starting lineup was as follows:
QB Jarrett Stidham
RB Josh Jacobs
WR Mack Hollins
WR Keelan Cole
WR Tyron Johnson
TE Foster Moreau