The Las Vegas Raiders may be giving the 49ers a chance to bolster the top of their depth chart at the Judge Guard. Josina Anderson reported on Wednesday that the Raiders are expected to release RG Gabe Jackson after seven years with the club.
Performance has not driven departure. Jackson was set to make $ 9.6 million next season and his contract left no dead money for Vegas to part with him.
In fact, Jackson played very well for a strong Raiders offensive front last year, starting all 16 games. The two years before, he started all 24 games he played. An elbow injury limited him to 13 games in 2018, and a knee injury prior to the season kept him at 11 games the following year.
While the 49ers did not invest heavily in the RG spot during Kyle Shanahan’s tenure, last year it was enough of an issue that they were able to spend some of their limited resources to bring in a reliable player to act as a starter and stand. allow players like Daniel Brunskill to work as a reserve. That would improve the starting place and help their depth, which suffered badly last year as injuries piled up.
It would be a departure from the norm for San Francisco, but kicking tires on an available starting RG like Jackson could help secure an offensive line in need of some reinforcement.