Oakland Raiders: Best free agent moves of the Reggie McKenzie era
By Kevin Saito
Kelechi Osemele (2016)
Needing a big, nasty guard to pair with Gabe Jackson on the interior of that line, McKenzie went out and found the biggest and nastiest to hit the open market.
After spending the first four years of his career in Baltimore, McKenzie came calling with a five-year, $58 million dollar contract. The $11.7 million in annual salary makes him the second-highest paid guard in the NFL – behind only Cleveland’s Kevin Zeitler, who makes $12 million dollars annually.
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Apropos of nothing, Osemele’s mate on the interior, Gabe Jackson, ranks fourth in the league with an annual salary of $11 million, which gives the Raiders the highest paid pair of guards in the league.
Osemele has been worth the money though. He’s brought that edge and nastiness this Raiders line was in desperate need of. And back in 2016, with a line up, punch them in the mouth style, that line powered the Raiders to the league’s sixth-best rushing attack.
The line took a step back in 2017, the run game dropping all the way down to twenty-fifth in the league in rushing yards. But, you can blame former OC Todd Downing for that – not that line. It was Downing, after all, who took them out of the power blocking scheme they were built for and installed a zone blocking scheme that didn’t maximize their strengths.
Osemele was the final piece in building one of the most dominant lines in the NFL and one of McKenzie’s best acquisitions. Now, we just need to hope that Gruden and new OC Greg Olson can better utilize that line.