We are inside 24 hours from the start of free agency. Yes, *official* free agency doesn’t begin for a few more days, but we all know the free agent negotiating period is when it all happens and that opens Monday afternoon.
That’s when free agents can agree to terms with teams and hover their pens over the dotted line for the moment they can make it official
The Raider have a few needs on the team that are considered critical or at very least serious. Of those needs, we have discussed who is out there to fill needs at quarterback, cornerback, and linebacker.
Next up we move to the offensive line. And we start with the guard position because they need help there desperately.
With the open of free agency, there will be a few guards who would fit what the Raiders are looking for at the position. Here they are.
Isaac Seumalo
Widely considered the best guard hitting the market this year, though, admittedly in a somewhat weak overall guard free agent class. Seumato is coming off a breakout season in which he was a stalwart at right guard for a dominant Eagles offensive line that helped take them all the way to the Super Bowl.
The former third round pick has spent his entire seven-year career in Philly. Though you may not have known it considering prior to this season, he had only played in and started every game one time.
It was his second Super Bowl as part of the Eagles. The first time, they won it, but Seumato was not a starter on that team.
At the age of 29, he really seemed to come into his own last season. But it is just one season he has played at that high of a level. He spent time on injured reserve in both of the previous two seasons. Being a starter for that elite unit may end up getting a team to pay more than the Raiders would for a player with no sustained success.
Ben Powers
At 6-4, 328 pounds, Powers could probably stand to drop a bit of weight. But it hasn’t hurt him much as an NFL lineman. He is one of the best pass blocking guards in the league, having given no sacks and just one QB hit all of last season.
Most importantly, the Raiders run a power-gap scheme just as they do in Baltimore where Powers has been a full time starter for the past two and a half years. So, he could come over and not miss a beat with the Raiders. Probably could teach some of the young Raiders linemen a few things too.
Dalton Risner
Risner is a durable, smart, athletic guard. The first quality all teams look for. The later two are musts in the Raiders scheme which utilizes a lot of pulling guards — an area in which Risner shows great proficiency.
Will Hernandez
The former 34th overall pick has had a pretty solid career as a full time starter in four of his five NFL seasons. His final season in New York, he was the starting right guard, going against Patrick Graham’s defense every day in practice.
He spent last season in Arizona, where for the first time in his five-year career, he missed time due to injury. He landed on IR for the final four games with a pectoral injury. Though it’s not an injury that is expected to be an issue moving forward.
Hernandez does his best work as a pass blocker, but isn’t a liability as a run blocker either. For what it’s worth (and it may not be much), coming out of UTEP Hernandez said he modeled his game after Richie Incognito who was in Buffalo at the time while OL coach Aaron Kromer was running a power-gap scheme.
Nick Gates
Gates has the makeup of someone who could be a valuable addition to compete for playing time. He is a former center, who moved to guard and in his second games was lost for what amounted to a season and a half with a very serious leg injury. Then he returned to start the remaining seven games of last season.
So, he has the smarts of a center, the determination of someone who fought back from a terrible leg injury to be a starter again, and a season working in the power-gap scheme in New York. Seems worth a shot to me.
