Powers-Johnson benched on Raiders offense, but looks to ‘embrace every role’

Jackson Powers-Johnson stood right next to Klint Kubiak, clapping and nodding as the Las Vegas Raiders coach gave his postgame speech after the team’s comeback win against the New York Jets.

Powers-Johnson had not seen the field much. In fact, over the past three games, each of his 16 snaps came on special teams after he began the season as the starting right guard.

Still, the team’s second-round draft pick in 2024 has maintained a presence. Kubiak, in the wake of rookie Trey Zuhn III taking over the starting spot, has praised Powers-Johnson for being a good teammate.

Asked Wednesday if he felt that the coaching staff had given him a fair evaluation leading up to his benching on offense, Powers-Johnson told the Review-Journal, “It’s why coaches are coaches and players are players. And my job is just to do what they tell me and do it to the best of my ability. So if that’s what they think, then I got to step up as a great teammate. Just continue to try to get better and make us go forward.”

But Powers-Johnson’s future is unclear as he works to improve. He might have won the Rimington Trophy in 2023 given to college football’s best center, but Tyler Linderbaum signed a lucrative contract to be entrenched in that starting role.

The 23-year-old Powers-Johnson beat out Caleb Rogers for the starting spot out of training camp. However, with the Raiders’ rushing attack struggling coming off a blowout loss at New England, Rogers replaced Powers-Johnson as the starter in losses to the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams.

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Powers-Johnson said. “You never know what’s going to happen every second of every day. You’ve just got to be ready for everything, so me being able to play a couple of positions can help me in some good ways. I’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches and just focusing on what my coaches say.”

For now, in the weeks ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, the coaches have used Powers-Johnson on special teams.

“You’ve got to embrace every role you’re going to get,” he said. “I love being able to block for (kicker) Matt Gay. I love Matt, and if that’s my role, I’m excited about that role. And after this, I’ve got to go be a great husband. So I’ve got to go embrace that role, too. So you’ve got to embrace every role life gives you.”

Zuhn, who the Raiders drafted in the third round in April, started at guard in the team’s victory over the Jets, with Kubiak indicating the rookie would continue in the role while the running game improved. Zuhn said it was a dream come true to start, and that’s expected to be the case Sunday when the Raiders face the San Francisco 49ers.

“Trey’s playing great,” Powers-Johnson said. “He’s a really talented young guy. It’s really fun to see him go out there and ball out and have a great time. Whatever I can to help him get better, I’m going to do that.”

Contact Diamond Leung at [email protected]. Follow @diamond83 on X.