After figuring out their right tackle problem last year, the Raiders don’t have many holes on their offensive line heading into the 2023 season. However, the center position is one that the Raiders might need to consider upgrading in the near future.
In a recent article done by Pro Football Focus, they ranked all 32 starting centers heading into the 2023 season. Not surprisingly, Andre James did not rank very high for the Raiders, coming in at No. 21. Here is what the site had to say about the veteran center for Las Vegas:
An undrafted free agent back in 2019 out of UCLA, James is probably never going to be a top-10 center in the NFL, but he has at least posted average PFF grades in each of the past two seasons. A lack of consistency, with five games in 2022 where he posted a sub-60.0 PFF grade is what is currently stopping him from breaking into the top half of starters at the position.
James isn’t a terrible player by any means, but he isn’t a high-end starter either. That puts the Raiders into an interesting situation as they might just have to live with the fact that they have a slightly below-average center as a starter.
The Raiders aren’t likely to make a change this season with their starting center. But if James continues to struggle with his consistency, they might decide to move on during the 2024 offseason and look for a new center. Needless to say, it’s a big year for James.
