The biggest change coming for the Raiders this season will be a new offense. Gone is Josh McDaniels whose offense failed to even reach 20 points last season and in is new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
There is the matter of installing the new offense and getting it on its feet. But that is not the top priority for Getsy. He knows he has to start from the ground up with his new players.
“It’s important to lay a foundation,” said Getsy as the team heads into its first OTA practice of 2024. “If we can establish our style and the brotherhood that we have in that room, we’re going to be just fine. The schematic part is the second element of it. Guys got to be comfortable being able to react to things that happen. Because the reality of it is that we prepare them and we say it’s going to look like this and we called it for this, but there’s often something that’s slightly different and those repetitions that you get with one another, that’s how you become elite.”
Getsy isn’t the only new piece to this offense. The team went out and signed free agent quarterback Gardner Minshew who is expected to become the new starter. They then made tight end Brock Bowers their pick at 13 overall in the draft, pairing him up with fellow tight end Michael Mayer, who they selected with the 35th overall pick in last year’s draft.
“I’m extremely excited. Brock’s a unique guy,” said Getsy.
“This league is about finding as many dynamic guys and you can get on your team. That’s the goal. As you see all the construction of these teams in the league, you try to find those dynamic differences and he’s just one of those elements that gives us the opportunity to do a bunch of different things.”
Other new offensive weapons include running back Alexander Mattison, wide receivers Michael Gallup and Jalen Guyton, and TE Harrison Bryant.
Along the offensive line, they added second round guard (44 overall) Jackson Powers-Johnson, third round tackle DJ Glaze, and signed veteran guard Andrus Peat to a free agent deal.
While Powers-Johnson is expected to start at one of the guard spots, Glaze will compete with Thayer Munford for the starting right tackle job while Peat will compete for reps either at guard or as a utility guard/tackle.
Those competitions as well as the many schemes Getsy feels he can draw up to best utilize his offensive weapons hits the field today as the entire Raiders team takes the field together for the first time.
