.png)
Sept. 17, 2026 Updated 8:15 am EDT
HENDERSON,
Nev. — Klint Kubiak inherited a roster with the NFL’s worst offensive line from
a season ago.
The
first-time head coach, coming from coordinating one of the league’s
top-performing units for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, wanted to
ensure the same issues wouldn’t plague his scheme. So the Las Vegas Raiders paid up for center Tyler
Linderbaum in free agency, giving him a record-setting three-year, $81 million
contract to anchor their front five.
“I’m really glad we have him,” Kubiak
said during training camp.
In Las Vegas’
season-opening win over the Miami Dolphins, Linderbaum looked like he’ll be
worth the investment. He helped keep Kirk Cousins upright; the quarterback
wasn’t sacked once. Linderbaum didn’t allow a single pressure in the game,
according to TruMedia. He also led the way for running back Ashton Jeanty to
post his third career game with 100-plus rushing yards as the Raiders totaled
130 overall.
Yet
more can still be done, Linderbaum said.
“I
thought we left a lot out there,” Linderbaum said. “I think we can do more. So,
proud of Game 1, but we’ve got a bunch more ball games left.”
Kubiak was pleased with his star
lineman’s first game.
“He’s a really good athlete,” Kubiak
said. “He’s a premier athlete at his position, and then to play center, you’ve
got to be the smartest guy on the field. So, he gets everybody on the same
page. He plays with great effort, plays with great athleticism.”
Linderbaum’s
effort, athleticism and intelligence could have a major impact on Kubiak’s
offense going forward. Three plays against the Dolphins exemplify each aspect
of the center’s game. Linderbaum and his Raiders teammates detailed those snaps
to The
Athletic.
Athleticism
As Kubiak said, Linderbaum is one of the most athletic centers in the game, and he showed that on the Raiders’ first touchdown.
Tyler Linderbaum's athleticism already shines for the Raiders
Sam Warren
Linderbaum
handled Zeek Biggers after shotgun snapping to Cousins in the red zone,
preventing the Miami defensive tackle from penetrating as he rushed to his
left. But as Biggers pursued, the center saw Chop Robinson following in from
behind. Miami was setting up a stunt for their edge rusher to loop inside for a
free shot at Cousins, and Linderbaum was out of position.
In the split second the center had to
recognize the move, he found a way to foil it. Linderbaum disengaged from
Biggers, dropped his right foot at more than a 180-degree angle and drove off
his back leg to block Robinson. He somehow got both hands on the rusher with
enough momentum to throw him from Cousins’ throwing lane, allowing the
quarterback to thread the ball through traffic to receiver Jack Bech.
“He is a great athlete,”
Cousins said of the play. “I think he’s a great example of somebody who plays
with a lot of urgency and quickness and twitch and speed. I’m sure it showed on
that play and a lot of other ones throughout the game.”
Linderbaum
said the Raiders’ protection was a simple three-man rule to Robinson’s side:
himself, left guard Spencer Burford and left tackle Kolton Miller blocking the
three rushers who were lined up ahead of them. When Robinson looped, he became
Linderbaum’s responsibility, with the center having to “bump off” Biggers to
Burford.
“And
then that’s NFL football for you,” Linderbaum said. “It’s a game of inches, so
you try to get a hand on the guy. And what a great play by Kirk and Jack to
find the end zone.”
Raiders backup guard Caleb Rogers
called the play “incredible” on Linderbaum’s part.
“We
want to be able to pick that up a little bit cleaner where he’s not having to
rely on his athleticism,” Rogers said. “Awesome to do, awesome to see, but
there’s more there for us and our best can be better.”
The Raiders don’t want to be caught in positions of near-sacks,
but Linderbaum showed his agility can make up for mistakes.
Effort
Linderbaum
made a statement in his first rep as a Raider.
Kubiak
called an inside zone run to start Las Vegas’ opening offensive drive. While a
zone scheme typically calls on a lineman’s blocking finesse for success,
Linderbaum exercised brute force on Miami defensive tackle Jordan Phillips off
the snap.
Linderbaum burst from the line and got
under Phillips’ shoulder pads. The initial contact toppled the defender,
leaving him on his knees as Jeanty rushed into the hole Linderbaum just blew
open.
The center wasn’t done with Phillips,
however, even after Jeanty was yards downfield. As Phillips tried to get to his
feet, Linderbaum re-engaged and found firm hand placement on the defender’s
chest plate. Linderbaum then re-accelerated just as Phillips rose, forcing him
backward before shoving him to the ground yet again.
Linderbaum said he knew he had an
opportunity to assert his presence upon hearing the play call. He did so with a
rare double-pancake block.
“First play of the game, we’re running the football, and it’s an
opportunity to set the tone early,” Linderbaum said. “That just kind of has to
be the mindset of the offensive line, how we wanted to start it. That’s
basically what it came down to.”
Rogers said Linderbaum’s block riled
him and the rest of the offensive linemen up on the sidelines.
“That’s
kind of what we expect from this group,” Rogers said of the play. “That’s kind
of the standard that we’re looking to push towards and to hold every single
day. Our job every single day is to hold the standard and raise the standard.
And he does a great job of helping us do that.”
Linderbaum
played with similar effort throughout the rest of the game, driving defenders
downfield to give Jeanty and others room to run. With the center setting that
standard, the Raiders can count on their offensive line to work tirelessly in
the run game.
Intelligence
With Linderbaum in charge of
communicating blocking assignments, the Raiders don’t expect many errors. The
center has been praised for his command at the line, and that
was displayed on a third down midway through the fourth quarter.
The
Raiders were backed up in their own territory in danger of a three-and-out with
just over nine minutes to play. They were in an obvious position to pass on
third-and-6, and Miami geared up to bring pressure with linebacker Jacob
Rodriguez showing blitz right over Linderbaum. The center sensed the look was a
trap.
Linderbaum
called to Jeanty in the backfield that Linderbaum would be blocking down on
Dolphins defensive lineman Malik Herring, who was lined up all the way between
Burford and Miller. By pointing at Herring, he effectively communicated to
Jeanty that Rodriguez was his responsibility.
Vacating a zone with a perceived
blitzer head-up and passing duty to a running back is a gutsy call, but
Linderbaum was proven correct. After Jeanty made initial contact with
Rodriguez, the linebacker looped outside while Robinson replaced him. The
Raiders deciphered the moves and stonewalled the rushers, giving Cousins more
than enough time to hit tight end Michael Mayer for a first down.
When
asked, Linderbaum declined to go into detail on how he diagnosed the rush and
why Herring was his responsibility, but said the Raiders’ scheme helped him
sort things out.
“That’s just some of our protection rules,” Linderbaum said.
“Just trying to do our protection how we’re coached to do.”
While
the drive eventually ended in a punt, the conversion allowed a Raiders offense
that was struggling some in the second half to bleed three more minutes off the
clock.
Linderbaum’s smarts up front give the
Raiders an edge at the line of scrimmage. His command can keep the group on the
same page, erasing most of the unforced errors that besieged this offensive
line a season ago.
Linderbaum showed he can raise the
level of the Raiders’ offense in his first game. While impressed, Kubiak
emphasized the win was a small sample size. He’s excited about the center’s
play so far, but the challenge for Linderbaum is to stay consistent.
“He’s
played one game,” Kubiak said. “He’s got to play a whole season, so I’m still
expecting more out of him.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7602625/2026/09/17/tyler-linderbaum-raiders-debut-film-study
