Re-signed just before free agency last year, Andre James is heading back to the market. The Raiders intend to release their veteran center starter soon.
James will be cut March 12, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, pointing to a post-June 1 release designation. The Raiders have two of those to use, as Gardner Minshew is expected to occupy one of those slots. The Raiders would reduce James’ dead money total by designating him as a post-June 1 cut, and it appears after four seasons of James at center, the team will use another option in 2025.
Appearing on last year’s PFR Top 50 Free Agents list, James fetched a three-year, $24MM deal hours before the market opened. The Raiders’ Tom Telesco-led regime prioritized the Jon Gruden-era addition. James has started 60 games with the team, signing two starter-level deals. Only going into his age-28 season, James should garner interest elsewhere.
The Raiders did sign ex-Tom Brady teammate Alex Cappa earlier this week. This could point to an arrangement in which Cappa and Dylan Parham start at guard and Jackson Powers-Johnson returns to his college position. The Raiders slid the Oregon center, the 2023 Rimington Award winner, to guard as a rookie. Powers-Johnson already saw extensive time at center last season, as James missed four games, playing 421 snaps there and 506 at left guard. At center, Powers-Johnson posted the sixth-best pressure rate in pass protection, The Athletic’s Tashan Reed tweets.
Gruden installed James as his starting center in 2021, doing so despite the blocker being a UDFA with little experience going into his third season. The Raiders moved on from Rodney Hudson that year, and James began a run of four seasons as the team’s starter. He started for four HCs in that time. Pro Football Focus rated James poorly in 2024, slotting him 33rd among center regulars, and the UCLA alum missed four games. Pass block win rate viewed James’ season differently, however, ranking him eighth among all interior O-linemen. PFF graded him as a top-10 center in 2023.
The Raiders will save $3.15MM by making James a post-June 1 cut; they will take on just more than $5MM in dead money. This move will bump the Raiders past $83MM in cap space, but they cannot use any funds created by post-June 1 designations until after that date. James will join Drew Dalman, Ryan Kelly and Josh Myers among veteran centers available in free agency. Though, James will need to wait two days before he can agree on terms with a team; the other three snappers can have deals in place beginning at 11am CT Monday.