Mailbag: Who are Raiders' five best offensive linemen?

We're officially into the second half of the Las Vegas Raiders ' season with their Week 9 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. But before that, let's dive into some mailbag questions .

Q: What would be the best starting five on the offensive line going forward? Dylan Parham or Jackson Powers-Johnson at center? Jordan Meredith at guard?

A: While I'm not rooting for Andre James to be injured or out long-term, part of me is interested in seeing how the offensive line can function without him. I don't think Powers-Johnson played well overall last week, but he did look better at center than at guard, and he was the top center in College Football last year.

So, with the Raiders looking toward the future, I think it would make sense to roll with Kolton Miller, Meredith, JPJ, Parham and DJ Glaze on the offensive line for at least a few games. In my opinion, James isn't the long-term solution at center and Meredith has played well enough to have the opportunity to prove himself on a bigger sample size.

At this point, might as well roll with the young guys and see what they can do. It's not as if they're protecting the franchise's future at quarterback anyway.

Q: Why does Will Putnam not get consideration?

A: I know Putnam drew some good reviews in training camp, but I wasn't impressed with what I saw from him in the preseason and that's probably a big reason why he didn't make the team at the end of training camp.

For example, the undrafted rookie posted a 52.8 PFF grade in August. He was good in pass protection with no pressures allowed and a 79.2 mark but earned an ugly 42.9 run-blocking grade.

So, Putnam likely isn't ready to get thrown into the fire just yet. However, if Las Vegas has a significant injury to an interior offensive lineman, we might start hearing his name get tossed around as a practice squad callup. If that happens, personally, I'd rather see him in the game than Cody Whitehair for the same reason as what was mentioned above.

Q: Why not at least try Carter Bradley for a game? Do you see that happening before the end of the season?

A: This kind of goes along the same lines as Putnam, I don't think they want to rush an undrafted rookie onto the field before he's ready. Bradley has a strong arm and a gunslinger mentality to be an intriguing developmental prospect, but he has a lot to work on to be an NFL quarterback, most notably his decision-making and accuracy.

That being said, if the Raiders continue to tumble this season while Gardner Minshew and Desmond Ridder play poorly, maybe Bradley will get some snaps at the end of the season. However, the organization opting to add Ridder off the Cardinals' practice squad rather than promote the rookie from their own practice squad says a lot about what the coaching staff thinks of where Bradley is in his development.

And that's fine, I wouldn't expect a UDFA to be ready to go in year one, but it does suggest that it's more likely he doesn't get playing time this season than he does.

Q: Matt, if the Raiders are changing head coach next year and they can't get Ben Johnson, would it be too crazy to hire Zac Robinson?

A: I want to start by saying that I think Antonio Pierce will get retained in the offseason after hearing Mark Davis tell the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore that Pierce is a young head coach and just needs to "grow into the job."

But, to answer the question and if Davis' words are just smoke and mirrors, I don't hate the idea of hiring Robinson. He comes from the coveted Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay coaching tree and seems like a young up-and-coming coach. However, his lack of experience would be concerning.

At 38 years old, Robinson would be the second-youngest head coach in the NFL behind Mike Macdonald (37). Also, Robinson has only been a coach in the league since 2019, so he'd be a risky hire.

A: I think the last 20 years have proven that the Raiders are dysfunctional as even when they start building momentum, something happens to tear it all down, i.e. Derek Carr breaking his leg and the Jon Gruden email scandal.

To get out of that rut, I think the two biggest factors are finding a quality head coach and quarterback. That's what the Lions did with Dan Cambell and Jared Goff, and what helped the Browns get back to relevance for a while with Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield. The problem in Cleveland was Mayfield had a down year and the organization thought Deshaun Watson would be the answer moving forward. Spoiler alert, Waston wasn't/isn't.

We know the Raiders don't have a quality quarterback but is Pierce a quality coach? Well, that remains to be seen...

A: There isn't a single starting quarterback in the NFL who was an undrafted free agent. So, I don't think loading up on those guys would make much of a difference. Also, Carr was the last starting quarterback the Raiders drafted and, I know this will be controversial for some, but Carr was a good quarterback.

If it makes you feel more comfortable, Tom Telesco has a good track record of drafting quality starting quarterbacks in the first round. Telesco was the Colts' VP of football operations when they took Andrew Luck No. 1 overall, and he drafted Justin Herbert sixth overall as the Chargers ' GM.

A: I thought Gardner Minshew played fine against the Chiefs, but he wasn't pushing the ball down the field and, obviously, wasn't good enough to get the win or overcome the Raiders' other issues.

Coincidentally, on the fourth down play you mentioned, he might have been able to hit Brock Bowers in the back of the end zone or throw to the backside of the play. However, Minshew started to feel some pressure, dropped his eyes and ran right into the sack.

At this point, the six-year veteran is who he is and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Minshew to fix his issues.