Column: Tom Cable, Raiders look to reshape offensive line

Good news for the Raiders: This week’s NFL Draft is as deep with offensive line prospects as Richie Incognito has arm tattoos.

Potential problem for the Raiders: There is no guarantee they will identify the best one for a particular need.

More good news for the Raiders: Tom Cable is in charge of making things work.

Change has been the off-season narrative for the front that Cable instructs, the veteran assistant coach now staring at a 2021 season where familiar starters are gone and new ones must produce.

The deconstruction occurred when Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson and Trent Brown all were traded, moves that hurt a tad less when Incognito was cut and then re-signed to a more team-friendly deal.

It means the Raiders will have fresh faces at center, right guard and right tackle, the latter being a spot where drafting an immediate plug-and-play name seems the most likely scenario.

A consistent voice

“We think we’re getting younger,” Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said. “I’m excited and energized by what our offensive line room is starting to look like and I’m excited and energized because I think Tom Cable feels the same way.

“We have all the respect in the world for Rodney and Gabe and Trent, but at this point, we made a conscious decision to try to get younger, maybe a little bit more athletic and let’s go. I can’t wait to see how we react.”

Translation: No matter how inexperienced the Raiders prove along the line, the 56-year-old Cable remains a consistent voice that last year shaped those up front into a unit that ranked Top 1o in both run and pass block win rate.

Not bad, considering injuries and COVID-19 issues meant the line that started at Carolina to open the season played a total of just three snaps together.

One, two, three, are you kidding me?

Here’s how things stand in April: The left side is set with Incognito and tackle Kolton Miller, who just signed a three-year extension for up to $68.7 million. It’s everywhere else that has many wondering.

Hudson is arguably the league’s best center and will now be replaced by third-year pro Andre James or recently acquired veteran Nick Martin. Jackson’s replacement at right guard should be — at least to start — Denzelle Good, who’s entering his seventh NFL season and also played some tackle last year.

But the biggest mystery exists at right tackle, a spot Brown in 2019 was made the highest paid offensive lineman in history by the Raiders and yet traded two years later.

“Tom Cable’s importance now will be to help find that hidden gem because it’s critical they handle that right tackle position well to keep (quarterback) Derek Carr upright,” said former Raiders tackle Lincoln Kennedy. “In this sense, Cable becomes even more valuable an asset because of his ability to get people in the right frame of mind and to create a cohesive unit.

“Trent Brown was a band-aid over a gaping wound. It was a failure. Paid a whole lot of money and didn’t get a whole lot in return. So this becomes the big question — what will they do at right tackle?”

Return to normal?

You don’t get better as an offensive lineman without contact often before a season. It’s not a position played well with inactivity. These guys need to hit.

So it would make sense that should things return to a more normal preseason existence following last year’s COVID-19 upheaval, Cable has enough opportunity to develop a competent bunch.

Still, he has coached in the league since 2006 and is facing one of his greatest challenges as a position coach.

The Raiders can certainly help him by drafting offensive line at the 17th overall pick. It makes too much sense.

Insert all those one-liners here, then, about not holding one’s breath.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.