Oakland Raiders adjusting offense because of injury to left tackle

The Oakland Raiders lost left tackle Jared Veldheer to a triceps injury. That has forced the Raiders to shuffle their offensive line and consequently change their playbook.

“I think it changes how we’re going to use everybody, to be honest with you,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said, via CSN Bay Area. “It’ll impact how we use Darren McFadden, it’ll impact how we use Marcel Reece. You don’t lose a player like that and think that you’re not going to have to change some things or do some things differently.”

Veldheer was a major component of the offense and a integral role in the gap-creation blocking scheme. A lack of an adequate replacement on the roster Olson is left to wonder whether some of his plays and schemes can still work.

“It will be a difficult role to fill and somebody’s going to have to step in and fill those shoes,” Olson said. “But, philosophically speaking, do we feel like we have the players right now? With Jared, he was obviously and important piece of what we’re trying to do but we feel like right now, we’ll take a look at Alex Barron and continue to evaluate him as we move forward.”

Alex Barron is a potential replacement but not as talented a run blocker as Veldheer.

“We’ll continue to look at it during these last two preseason games, and more specifically Friday’s game,” Olson said, “and we’ll see if (the power, gap scheme is) something we’ll continue to expand upon.”