One of the biggest problem spots the Raiders had on their entire roster heading into the 2022 season was right tackle. The expectation was that Alex Leatherwood or Brandon Parker would win that job and the other would be the swing tackle.
Instead, neither player ended up seeing the field for a single snap in 2022 and the Raiders were forced to go in a different direction. Luckily, they were saved by the play of Jermaine Eluemunor.
In a recent article by Gordon McGuinness of Pro Football Focus, he ranked the top 32 offensive tackles heading into the 2023 season. Surprisingly, Eluemunor made the list, coming in at No. 32. Here is what the site had to say about the veteran tackle:
Eluemunor took a big step forward last season in his first full year as a starter. A fifth-round pick back in 2017, he produced 75.0-plus PFF pass-blocking and run-blocking grades in 2022. He allowed 26 total pressures over the course of the season but surrendered just seven across the final six games of the year.
The Raiders were able to bring back Eluemunor this offseason on a very reasonable deal as he should continue to lock down the right tackle spot. While he isn’t an elite tackle or anything like that, he was incredibly solid and reliable. And that’s all the Raiders were hoping to find at that spot going into the year.
