Oakland Raiders: 2016 Offseason In House To Do List
By Kevin Saito
When the Raiders signed J’Marcus Webb last offseason, it didn’t generate many ripples across the waters of the Raider Nation. He’d bounced around the league a bit but was never good enough to stick in any one place, playing for the Bears for a few years, and the Vikings for a couple.
Turns out that the Webb signing was a really good one for the Raiders. And at $745,000, a bargain to boot.
He’d signed as a tackle, ostensibly for depth on the line, but then offensive line coach Mike Tice decided to fill a glaring need by moving Webb inside to guard and sliding Austin Howard – who’d been struggling in the position – back to his natural spot at tackle.
It was a deft move and one that paid big dividends as on the right side of the line, Howard and Webb formed a good bookend to Penn and Jackson on the left with Rodney Hudson in the middle. And the Raiders had a fantastic offensive line – one of the best units in the entire league until injuries began to take a toll.
When Howard went down with a season ending injury, Hudson tweaked his ankle – an injury that he never seemed to fully recover from – the Raiders line wasn’t the same. Webb moved back outside to the tackle spot, rookie Jon Feliciano got some time with the starting unit, and Khalif Barnes also got some snaps.
But it was clear that the line wasn’t the same as when the starting five were Penn, Jackson, Hudson, Webb, and Howard.
Webb was a fantastic value signing and he paid some big dividends for the club with some very solid play. The Raiders’ offensive success had a lot to do with their offensive line and Webb had a big part in that.
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