The Las Vegas Raiders have some question marks along their offensive line ahead of the 2024 NFL season, but thanks to Andre James, the center position is not one of them.
James' rise from an undrafted free agent to one of the better centers in the NFL has been impressive. After serving as a backup for the first two years of his career, the UCLA product got the starting job in 2021 and hasn't looked back since.
After yet another impressive year in 2023, James was rewarded with a three-year, $24 million deal that should be considered a steal when you consider Tennessee Titans center Lloyd Cushenberry netted a four-year, $50 million.
In a recent article naming the most underappreciated player on each team in the NFL, James was the choice for the Raiders in the eyes of Gennaro Filice of NFL.com. Here are his thoughts:
The Raiders have seen plenty of change in recent years, but one thing remains the same: Clear respect for Andre James. An undrafted free-agent signee back in 2019, James played a grand total of 116 offensive snaps in his first two seasons with the franchise. But that didn’t stop Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock from trading veteran center Rodney Hudson in the 2021 offseason and immediately handing the positional reins to James via a three-year, $12.5 million extension. The bold move paid off, as James capably filled the role for the past three years. After Tom Telesco took over as Las Vegas’ general manager this past January, one of his first orders of business was locking up James on a three-year, $24 million extension. And just before the Raiders spent April’s second-round pick on Jackson Powers-Johnson -- an interior offensive lineman who played center last season at Oregon -- they reached out to James to assure him that he’ll remain in the pivot while the rookie will get in where he fits in. New regime, same old respect.
James might be underappreciated at the national level, but Raiders fans are fully aware of just how good he is and how important he is to this team.
Among centers with at least 581 snaps in 2023, James finished top 10 in both pass-blocking (71.2, No. 8) and run-blocking grades (75.0, No. 10), according to Pro Football Focus. He also had the eighth-best overall grade at the position (74.6).
