The Las Vegas Raiders almost had too many flaws to count in 2025, but none were more pressing than their woeful offensive line. While fans blamed the losses on Geno Smith, whom the team is expected to replace in the 2026 NFL Draft, atrocious blocking stunted all offensive momentum, resulting in one of the worst seasons in franchise history.
With the quarterback issue hopefully resolving itself in the draft, expect the Raiders to make their offensive line headache a top priority in the 2026 NFL offseason.
Las Vegas has already committed to starting over from scratch for the second consecutive offseason when general manager John Spytek fired Pete Carroll after just one season. It fortunately has the resources to do so in the 2026 offseason. The Raiders are projected to have $91.5 million in cap space, per Over the Cap, the second-most in the league.
Spytek must be aggressive with those assets in free agency if new head coach Klint Kubiak and expected No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza are to have any chance of building a solid foundation together. Nothing will be more important than improving the offensive line, which the Raiders failed to do in 2025. Las Vegas has already learned the hard way how quickly a season can unravel without five solid blockers anchoring its offense.
The Raiders will need more than one crucial free agent signing to fix all the flaws they have as a franchise, but signing veteran center Connor McGovern would be a big step in the right direction.
Raiders’ offensive line is their biggest flaw
Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
The Raiders’ offensive line was easily the worst in the NFL in 2025, unsurprisingly leading to them ending the season tied for the worst record.
Everything fell apart early when their best offensive lineman, left tackle Kolton Miller, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 4. Miller was the only Las Vegas offensive lineman to play more than 100 snaps and receive at least a league-average player grade on Pro Football Focus. The 30-year-old would have been the seventh-highest rated offensive tackle in 2025 if he played enough snaps to qualify.
Aside from Miller, everything else was a mess up front. The injury forced the Raiders to rely on DJ Glaze and Stone Forsythe as their tackles, who allowed 88 combined pressures and 21 sacks, the most of any tackle duo in the league.
The interior situation was almost as bad, with Las Vegas benching center Jordan Meredith after Week 12, moving guard Alex Cappa onto the ball. Cappa, a historically solid guard, struggled with the position change, which weakened the team’s new guard tandem of Jackson Powers-Johnson and Dylan Parham.
The entire fiasco led to the Raiders ending the year dead last in sacks allowed, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
Spytek could stand to upgrade every position sans Miller, but the team needs a center more than anything. Connor McGovern, a 2024 Pro Bowler who is still just 28 years old, should be the Raiders’ No. 1 target in the 2026 offseason.
Connor McGovern would solve many issues
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Adding a stout center like Connor McGovern in the 2026 offseason would allow the Raiders to shift their entire offensive line rotation. Cappa would be free to move back to guard and replace impending free agent Dylan Parham, with Miller ideally returning at left tackle.
Although Cappa was the Raiders’ lowest-rated offensive lineman in 2025, he was forced into a difficult situation with Carroll moving him to center out of necessity. Before the tumultuous 2025 season, Cappa posted league-average numbers at guard, where he should return in 2026. Las Vegas has the cap space to find an upgrade from Cappa, but that money would be better spent on other positions while giving the 31-year-old a full season to play his natural position.
The Raiders will have their choice of veteran offensive linemen to choose from in the 2026 free agency class. Joel Bitonio, Lloyd Cushenberry III, Kevin Zeitler, Jermaine Eluemunor and Wyatt Teller should also be on Spytek’s list.
But aside from McGovern, most of the premier free agents have already aged past their primes. Las Vegas needs someone capable of joining the Kubiak-Mendoza rebuild over the next few years.
McGovern will not come cheap, but the Raiders can afford to give him the amount he deserves in free agency. The Bills’ entire offensive line improved when he joined them in 2023, making him the exact type of difference-maker Las Vegas needs in 2026.
The Raiders need to add more than just one offensive lineman in the offseason — they need an upgrade at right tackle almost as much as they need a new center. They fortunately have the cap space and draft capital to address each area in the coming months. Adding a Kadyn Proctor-like offensive tackle in the draft early on Day Two would be ideal.
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