3. How often will the offensive line keep quarterback Derek Carr off the turf?
According to Pro Football Focus, this was an offensive line that was a top-5 unit as recently as two years ago but veteran Kelechi Osemele inexplicably struggled with a 53.8 overall grade last season, and the Raiders’ offensive tackles were a simply terrible. Rookies Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker allow a combined 26 sacks and had 19 penalties between them.
In 2019, Osemele is gone (traded to the New York Jets) and the Raiders signed veteran Trent Brown to the richest deal in NFL history for an offensive lineman. They also signed talented, but troubled veteran Richie Incognito to fill the void at left guard. Incognito will spend the first two games yet PFF still has the Raiders’ offensive line rated as one of the worst in the league at 26th.
If the line can’t give Carr enough time to deliver to Antonio Brown, nor give Jacobs and the rest of the RB corps enough space to gain, frustrations could boil over fast. Incognito isn’t know for keeping his cool but Trent Brown has consistently graded out as one of the league’s best so his pairing with Incognito could surprise the “geniuses” at PFF, who also rank Carr as the most accurate deep passer (targets 20+ yards downfield) in the NFL in 2018, and ranks 3rd in deep passing accuracy since 2016. If given time, Carr has proven elite when getting the ball downfield.
The question is: will he have enough time? This is a huge question mark heading into the 2019 season and it could be a continued storyline throughout, if the line struggles.
