Oakland Raiders: All-Decade Team for the 2010s

Left tackle: Jared Veldheer

Jared Veldheer was drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Despite coming out of a small school, Hillsdale College, he stepped right in and anchored the left side of the line through the 2013 season.

While his grades by Pro Football Focus weren’t the greatest those four years, he was a solid player who the Raiders should have resigned once his contract was up.

Luckily Donald Penn was signed who not only filled in admirably but was better.

Left guard: Kelechi Osemele

While his play faltered his last year in Oakland, Kelechi Osemele had great seasons in both 2016 and 2017.

The Raiders ran a power run scheme those years and Osemele fit right in as a road grater having the best season of his career in 2016 being named an All-Pro and Pro-Bowler.

Osemele also made the Pro-Bowl in 2017 in a season where he gave up zero sacks and only 11 pressures. This ranked him #37 in the Pro Football Focus Top 50 Players of 2017 list.

Even in his down year in 2018, Osemele was still better than most of who the Raiders have had manning the left guard position in the past 10 years, still gaining a 97.6 pass-blocking efficiency grade which despite being high, was his lowest number since 2013.

Center: Rodney Hudson

This was one of the easiest decisions on the list.

Rodney Hudson has been great over the entire span of his almost five years with the Oakland Raiders.

When Hudson was signed by the Raiders back in 2015, he was made the highest-paid center in the NFL at the time and many thought the team may have overpaid since he was replacing Steven Wisniewski who was a solid blocker for the Raiders — plus he was cheaper.

Of course, we all know now that he was by no means overpaid, and has earned every dollar of that contract which was extended earlier this year making him the Raiders cog in the middle of the line through 2022.

Hudson has been a steady presence on an offensive line that has been near the top almost every year since he’s been on the team (minus 2018) only missing four-and-a-half games in his near-five-year tenure with the Raiders.

Right guard: Gabe Jackson

Currently, the longest-tenured member of the Raiders on the offensive line, Gabe Jackson has been another mainstay upfront since 2014.

Jackson played left guard for his first two seasons but moved to the right side in 2016 after the team signed Kelechi Osemele who played on the left.

While his play has been rather poor this year, he has been one of the better players on the team since he arrived, and is one of only six remaining players on the Raiders roster who were drafted by former general manager Reggie McKenzie.

Not to mention he is coming off of a knee injury.

In 2018, Gabe Jackson finished as the 15th best guard in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, and actually played well despite the overall bad play from the offensive line as a whole.

This is why the calls for the team to move on from him are premature in my opinion.

Another thing about Jackson is how few penalties he commits. The most penalties the six-year veteran has committed in a single season is five, back in 2017. In 2018, Jackson only committed three which is how much he has committed so far this year as well.

While Gabe Jackson is signed through 2023, cutting him would incur no dead money and the team would save over $9 million in 2019.

With his recent poor play and the fact that he may not be the best fit in a zone-blocking scheme, it is possible that happens. But Jackson would be the best lineman the Raiders have had this decade if not for Rodney Hudson who is arguably the best center in the NFL.

Right tackle: Donald Penn

Donald Penn played both left and right tackle for the Raiders. While he was a lot better on the left side, the Raiders have not had a solid presence on the right until signing Trent Brown this year.

Raiders fans admired Penn’s willingness to switch sides, even during the middle of a season, which is no easy task.

His five years were pretty much all positive, as he earned two Pro Bowl bids, one from his stellar 2016 season, and one in 2017 despite the fact that his quality of play was starting to dip.

Injuries started to take a toll on the long-time veteran, and despite making the Pro Bowl in 2017, it was clear his level of play was not up to par with what he and the team were used to going into 2018.

Penn not only contributed stellar play for most of his time as a member of the Oakland Raiders, but he also was a leader on and off the field.

Penn was a great example for the younger guys on the line as an offensive tackle who was able to maintain mostly solid play late into his 30s.