Las Vegas Raiders rookie guard to make NFL debut Sunday

Over the past two weeks, the Las Vegas Raiders have struggled on the offensive line, especially when trying to run the ball. With several starting roles to fill, rookie left guard Jackson Powers-Johnson will make his Raiders debut Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

The Draper, Utah native was unfortunately sidelined for the first two weeks of the regular season and all of preseason due to an undisclosed injury.

A second-round pick out of the University of Oregon, Powers-Johnson has been a wrecking ball on the offensive line since his time with the Ducks. He won the 2023 Rimington Trophy, awarded to the top center in all of FBS college football.

Powers-Johnson is making a positional adjustment from center to left guard, but based on what head coach Antonio Pierce had to say during Friday’s press conference, Pierce is ready to see him compete for the first time in the Silver and Black.

“We’ll see, we think like everybody else, right?” Pierce said. “We didn’t see him in preseason, we didn’t get a chance to get him ready for the first two games. He had a really good week of practice last week; if you watched the games, he was one of the biggest players, he motivated everybody on the sidelines. Just that energy, that fountain of youth, and obviously that aggression that he has, I can’t wait to see it. When he’s in the game, my eyes will be on him.”