Raiders roster: Cody Whitehair, steady veteran presence or placeholder at guard?

Offensive lineman knows Luke Getsy’s offense, but will he be a mainstay or give way to rookie Jackson Powers-Johnson at some point?

With the season opener only a few days away, the Las Vegas Raiders official depth chart was released on Tuesday.

That pecking order gives us a glimpse of Silver & Black starters as the team preps for an AFC West showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. One such starter shouldn’t really surprise and that’s veteran Cody Whitehair.

The longtime Chicago Bear headed West to Las Vegas this offseason and it was a welcome reunion for Raiders new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. The play caller held the same post in Chicago the last two seasons and Whitehair was the Bears left guard those two years. According to Getsy, the 32-year-old second-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft has been quite the asset as the Raiders prepped for the 2024 campaign.

“His perspective, his opportunity to go through it for two years has been great. And then, the other part of it is, we have some other really cool perspectives that go with it. And so, us being able to throw it off of Cody as well — his leadership has been tremendous in that room,” Getsy noted. “The guidance, the pulling along of the young guys. And then, being like the steady hand for the other vets. Cody’s been outstanding.”

Getsy isn’t alone in his praise of Whitehair.

Las Vegas offensive line boss James Cregg echoed the sentiments — if not more — on the 6-foot-3 and 316-pound Kansas State product.

“(Whitehair is) really important. He’s been in this system for a while, he understands it. We’re coaching it actually a little different way, a little different twist to it, and he’s been really engaging and learning it,” Cregg said in training camp. “But he’s an asset to the room as far as his knowledge, his work ethic. Really, really happy to have him here.”

NFL offensive line rooms tend to be one of the more close knit groups as it’s the nature of game for the trench warriors to be in-tune with one another. And having a sounding board who has been in the system, has familiarity, and the ability to impart that wisdom on others is invaluable (similar to Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams who has a history with Getsy dating to their Green Back Packers days). And like the wideout, Whitehair is the oldest in the position room as the next starter closest in age is left tackle Kolton Miller who is 28. The other starters: Center Andre James (26), right guard Dylan Parham (25), and right tackle Thayer Munford Jr. (24) are all younger.

Wisdom may come with age, but like so many other NFL players in their 30s, availability begins to wither, too. That was the case for Whitehair in Chicago as he played in 29 of 34 games starting 23 of said contests.

Thus, the question: Is Whitehair a steady veteran presence on the Raiders offensive line, or merely a placeholder?

Las Vegas is banking on the former rather than the latter. Las Vegas has no choice but to ensure Whitehair is a key cog. And it’s mainly due to circumstance, really.

While the Silver & Black have promising and powerful 2024 second-round pick Jackson Powers-Johnson — who moved from center in college to guard in the NFL — the Oregon product missed a substantial amount of practice and preseason reps due to injury (which landed the impressive prospect on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list).

Powers-Johnson being unavailable forced the Raiders to shift the starting lineup and it’s Whitehair who gets the starting nod. It’s unclear how much Powers-Johnson plays in the Week 1 opener at Los Angeles and the No. 44 overall pick’s health is likely something to watch all season as he was bitten by the injury bug quite a bit during his collegiate career (groin and hip issues in 2023 with concussion history to boot).

Whitehair’s familiarity with the what the Raiders intend to do this year along with a bevy of experience under his belt (118 career starts with 124 career games and a Pro Bowl nod in 2018 as Chicago’s center) certainly give him the prowess to be a starter in Las Vegas. But, as mentioned above, he missed time over the last two seasons and it may be only a matter of time that Powers-Johnson or another lineman step up at left guard. The rookie is listed as the backup left guard while Jordan Meredith is the backup at right. Veteran Andrus Peat, who is backing up Miller on the blindside, has experience and snaps to slide in at left guard, if need be.

Yet, the ideal scenario is for Whitehair to hold down the fort while Powers-Johnson gets his feet underneath him and eventually challenges for the starting role. Meanwhile, Whitehair can be an effective starter and solid mentor for the 21-year-old Powers-Johnson. After all, Whitehair came into the league as a center before shifting to left guard full time in 2021.

If there’s someone Powers-Johnson can lean on regarding the rigors of moving from the pivot to a guard spot, it’s Whitehair.