Mailbag: Is Thayer Munford Jr.’s starting spot in jeopardy?

We’re on to Week 3 and it’s the home opener for the Las Vegas Raiders as they take on the Carolina Panthers. After upsetting the Ravens last Sunday, the Raiders have a good chance to begin the season at 2-1 this week but first, we’ve got this week’s mailbag to get to.

Q: With Thayer Munford Jr.’s rough performance on Sunday in mind, at what point do you think they’ll consider playing DJ Glaze over Munford?

A: To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Glaze take snaps this weekend.

Munford has been decent in pass protection so far this season, but he’s been a poor run blocker in both games. To put it in perspective, he has the lowest run-blocking grade (37.5) from Pro Football Focus of any qualifying offensive tackle right now. That is supposed to be his strong suit, but it just hasn’t been so far in 2024.

Antonio Pierce has talked about making changes to get the running game going and has essentially said that guys are going to be on short leashes if things don’t get turned around soon. Plus, we’ve already seen Cody Whitehair get benched for Andrus Peat last week. Granted, that didn’t last long as Peat was also awful and the coaching staff quickly switched back to Whitehair.

But the point is, one offensive lineman has had a quick hook already and Munford might be the next one if he doesn’t turn it around soon. The big factor in this is if the Raiders think the rookie is ready for action, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Glaze at least get some reps against the Panthers.

Q: With the Rams season practically already over, should the Raiders make a call for Matthew Stafford?

A: I’ll say this, there’s a better chance of selling me on Stafford than Aaron Rodgers, who people have asked me about in the last couple of mailbags, because Stafford comes with less baggage than Rodgers does. However, I’m still not on board with the idea of giving up assets that could help land a long-term solution at quarterback for an aging player who will have to pick up the playbook and build chemistry with his teammates mid-season.

Plus, Gardner Minshew played well in the second half last week so let’s see if he can keep the momentum going before worrying about bringing in another quarterback for this season.

Q: Might the Raiders pivot to using the pass to set up the run instead of vice versa? Raider pass-catchers are playmakers and the running backs not so much.

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

A: The issue in the running game is more on the offensive line than the running backs, but I do think they should change up the approach because the passing attack has been more effective and efficient so far this season.

The problem is Minshew will still have to threaten defenses by pushing the ball down the field to get the defense to respect the passing attack and remove that extra defender from the box to help set up the running game. But he did that in the second half last week and you all saw the results. So, again, it’s about keeping the momentum from last week going.

I wrote about this earlier in the week, but I also think Luke Getsy changing the scheme to a more gap-heavy system will be better as the offensive line has been performing better on gap runs, and that suits Zamir White’s skill set.

A: This is kind of the same question as the one above so I’ll keep the answer brief.

I don’t think you want Minshew throwing the ball 40 times or as much as he has been to start the season, that’s just how the flow of the games has been so far. But the shift to focus on passing is going to have to happen if the running game is going to continue to be ineffective and inefficient.

A: Definitely check out the article I linked above as I touched on this question in more detail there.

Alexander Mattison is good on inside zones where he can get downhill but not on outside zones where he’s working laterally. Ultimately, I think going to a gap scheme and sticking to a more north-south running game when it comes to the zone runs is the answer.

The problem with that is Andre James and Whitehair have struggled to get a push, so Las Vegas’ running backs and offensive line aren’t gelling right now. I think that’s why we saw so many jet sweeps or end-arounds with wide receivers last week.

It looked like Luke Getsy was trying to see if the line can have more success with a perimeter running game while giving the ball to guys who can work east-to-west. The blocking wasn’t much better though, which is another reason why I’d like to see Getsy call more gap runs.

A: Understandably, there are lots of running game questions this week, so apologies for repeating myself a lot this week, lol.

In my opinion, the offensive line is the bigger issue and Pierce said that as well in one of his recent press conferences. I’d like to see what White can do in a more gap-heavy scheme as well, but below are a few running backs to keep an eye on if you want to start diving into draft prospects.

Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

Omarion Hampton, North Carolina

Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State

Cam Skattebo, ASU (Sac State transfer, stingers up!)

I can’t say I know much about Tahj Brooks yet, but he is a load at that size.

A: Dominick Puni—49ers’ third-round pick—is the first guy that comes to mind as I liked him as a potential guard option. Puni played pretty well in San Francisco’s season opener to make me wish the Raiders had drafted him.

Sure, it looks like a whiff right now, but we are two games into the season. I was also very high on Jackson Powers-Johnson in the draft, and it looks like he’s going to make his debut this week. So, let’s see how he plays before falling down the rabbit hole of draft hindsight, especially since we’ve tortured ourselves enough with that as Raider fans over the last several years, lol.

Q: What can we expect to see Sunday besides Andy Dalton to Adam Thielen?

A: I think that will be the Panthers’ primary focus offensively since Dalton and Thielen had a really good connection in the one regular season game they played with each other last year. Thielen had 11 catches, 145 yards and a touchdown for his most productive game of the year while Dalton threw for 361 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

I’d also expect Diontae Johnson to get more targets. He’s only had five catches and 34 yards in the first two games combined, but that was with poor quarterback play and he was a good receiver for the Steelers who can create plenty of separation. So with Dalton under center, I think Johnson will be a bigger factor.

Also, Carolina’s offensive line has improved a lot from what it was a year ago. They spent a ton of money on guards Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt while Austin Corbett is healthy after only playing in four games last season. That’s helped their running game as Chuba Hubbard had 10 carries for 64 yards (6.4 ypc) last week against the Chargers, and he’s coming off a campaign where he had 902 rushing yards behind a shaky line.

The quarterback change honestly makes me more nervous about the Panthers’ offense. They can be dangerous if the passing game gets going with Dalton, as it did in his one start in 2023 mentioned above, and that’s why he gives them a better chance to win than Bryce Young. Especially with the offseason additions, it was clear Young was holding that offense back.

A: This is exaggerating people’s comments, but Dalton is 3-0 against the Raiders as a starter and he’s a solid veteran quarterback. As mentioned above, the Panthers have talent on offense so with improved play behind center, they can put up points. Plus, it’s obviously a small sample size but Dalton looked really good in his one start for Carolina last year so I wouldn’t take him lightly.

Q: On scrimmage defense, can a player go out of bounds and make a play without “re-establishing himself” or is that special teams only? Charles Snowden got stiff-armed OOB by Derrick Henry still attempted to make play last week.

A: I tried to find the actual rule for this but didn’t have any luck. Most of what I could find had to do with offensive players, i.e. a receiver going out of bounds and making a catch similar to what happened with Nelson Aghlor last week. But I couldn’t find anything on a defensive player trying to make a tackle while out of bounds.

I would think it’s the same as special teams where the defender has to re-establish himself in bounds before making the tackle, but I could be wrong.

A: Brock Bowers, very good football player!

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.