The situation involving Jackson Powers-Johnson and the Las Vegas Raiders' offensive line has taken yet another strange turn after Pete Carroll made an announcement about the team's approach at right guard in Week 4.
Raiders' OL announcement is latest weird turn in Jackson Powers-Johnson mystery originally appeared on The Sporting News
Just when we thought things couldn't get more bizarre with Jackson Powers-Johnson and the Las Vegas Raiders' offensive line, head coach Pete Carroll just found a way.
The odd situation involving Powers-Johnson and his starting job is well-documented. In the offseason, he went from a presumed starter at center to having to compete for the right guard job with Alex Cappa, a competition JPJ won.
Then, after sitting out in Week 2 with a concussion, JPJ did not get the starting nod in Week 3, with Cappa getting the start instead. That only added fuel to the fire that the Raiders have some kind of issue with JPJ, although nobody really knows what it is, including Powers-Johnson.
Raiders fans were cautiously optimistic that Powers-Johnson would return to his starting role in Week 4, especially after Cappa stunk last week.
However, Carroll announced on Friday that BOTH Cappa and Powers-Johnson would play at right guard on Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
"He's playing in this game," Carroll said of Powers-Johnson when asked if he would deploy the same starting offensive line as last week, per Nick Walters of KTNV. "They'll both play."
Unless Carroll plans on playing one of them over Parham, who has had his own issues this season, it appears the Raiders are heading for a rotation at right guard in Week 4 with Powers-Johnson and Cappa.
And the situation just gets stranger.
There is really no clear answer for why Las Vegas insists on cutting JPJ's work in favor of a veteran offensive lineman who is clearly not better.
Las Vegas hasn't told the media, and they haven't told Powers-Johnson, either, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“It’s basically Jackson Powers-Johnson who’s been identified as somebody that needs to keep fighting for his job and fighting for playing time,” Bonsignore said on the First and 10 podcast. "He has not gotten any feedback from his words to me about why that is, and all he could do is keep putting his best foot forward. He’s open to playing guard, center, defensive line… I would not say that he was happy about it. I could tell. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Truth be told, the Raiders' entire offensive line has been bad this season, yet JPJ is the only one who is forced to compete for his job on a weekly basis.
Make it make sense.
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