NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Jackson Powers-Johnson and Jack Bech are ready for a fresh start. The two 23-year-old former second-round picks of the Raiders spent Sunday playing golf together in the Pacific Life Celebrity Classic, but their minds were on the upcoming season.
Both players expressed excitement about the changes the Raiders have made this offseason, from the coaching staff led by Klint Kubiak to key roster additions like center Tyler Linderbaum. The team also retained star defensive end Maxx Crosby after a rescinded trade with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Having an All-Pro (vote-getter) at center, that’s great — and have a guy I can learn from,” said Powers-Johnson, who won the Rimington Trophy at Oregon in 2023, two years after Linderbaum won it at Iowa. “He’s going to know a lot of the tricks of the trade. Getting to play next to a fellow Rimington winner, that’s awesome. It’s really exciting. He seems like a great dude.”
Powers-Johnson had entered last year’s training camp competing at center but ended up starting at guard on a struggling offensive line before an ankle injury in Week 10 landed him on injured reserve. With Linderbaum now signed to a record-setting three-year, $81 million deal to play center, Powers-Johnson’s role at guard is solidified.
“I’m confident in my future,” Powers-Johnson said. “I think more the biggest thing was I wanted continuity because kind of these past two years have been flip-flop, flip-flop, and now this gives me an opportunity to get one thing and get really good at it.”
Powers-Johnson said his ankle feels great and that he is healthy. Asked if he could have returned late last season as the Raiders finished 3-14, he deferred: “That was kind of more of a trainer-coach situation, not necessarily a me decision.”
He also praised Kubiak, the 39-year-old first-year head coach. “Young and cool. He reminds me of (Oregon coach) Dan Lanning a little bit.”
Bech, a wide receiver who had 20 receptions as a rookie, echoed the optimism. “Oh, he’s awesome,” Bech said of Kubiak. “He’s big into his faith. I’m obviously the same way. So for him just to be able to bring that into our program and just live by that, we’re just so excited. We can’t wait.”
He also credited the team’s free-agent moves and the return of Crosby. “Maxx has really taken me under his wing, going in every morning getting after it,” Bech said. “For us to be able to have somebody like Maxx in my corner being a mentor, the leader, the hard work, he is just teaching me so much. I’m ready personally to take a huge step and for the team to take a huge jump.”
Powers-Johnson, who posted on Instagram about it being “truly an honor” to play with Crosby, said the star’s return was seamless. “Hard to lose him, but even better to get him back. It’s a guy who I train with every single day. He’s my guy, so to have him back in the building is a blessing for me. Maxx Crosby is Maxx Crosby. Vegas is made for him, and he’s a Raider. So it’s not like he comes back and it’s awkward. He comes in, he’s doing the same thing he’s done every single day. And there’s not one step lost.”
