Injury report: Good news on Meredith

Guard has been out for the last two weeks

The Las Vegas Raiders conducted their second-to-last practice of the 2024 season and subsequently released the second injury report of the week ahead of the Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. One of the biggest takeaways from Thursday’s report is starting guard Jordan Meredith (ankle) was upgraded to limited.

Meredith has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. As a result, rookie Jackson Powers-Johnson slid over to left guard and Andre James stepped in at center. If the third-year pro is good to go for the season finale, presumptively, Powers-Johnson would slide over to the middle of the offensive line and James would go back to the bench.

One of this season’s pleasant surprises, Meredith has been impressive with an 80.8 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. The Raiders’ best offensive line combination has been with him at left guard, Kolton Miller protecting the blind side, JPJ at center, Dylan Parham at right guard and DJ Glaze at right tackle. The offense will have that combination against the Chargers if Meredith is available.

That was the only change on Thursday’s injury report, which means running back Ameer Abdullah (foot) has missed consecutive practices. Abdullah is coming off the first 100-yard performance of his 10-year career and has been a key player in Las Vegas offense down the stretch.

If he can’t go, Alexander Mattison would likely be elevated to the starting lineup while Chris Collier, who was added to the practice squad in November and called up to the active roster in Week 16, would likely be next in line. Rookie Dylan Laube is an option too, but Collier got touches over Laube last week.

To round out the injury report, the following players were limited on Thursday:

• DE K’Lavon Chaisson (ankle)
• DT John Jenkins (heel)
• OT Kolton Miller (wrist)
• S Isaiah Pola-Mao (hip)
• S Trey Taylor (back)