Film room: How Rogers brings versatility to offensive line

From Red Raider to a Las Vegas Raider, diving into the offensive lineman’s game

The Las Vegas Raiders needed to add some depth to their offensive line during the 2025 NFL Draft, and third-round pick (98th overall) Caleb Rogers can certainly help solve that problem.

Part of what made the Texas Tech product an intriguing draft prospect is that he recorded at least one start at four out of five offensive line positions. He began this past season lining up at both guard spots before sticking at right tackle from Week 5 on. That experience could make him a valuable player off the bench in year one, as he can fill in for nearly any starter if the starter goes down.

But Rogers is more than just a backup. He has a few traits that are worth taking a look at, as he could step into an even bigger role down the line.

For starters, I’ll acknowledge that North Texas isn’t exactly a high-level opponent. But, of the film that was available to me, this game was the biggest sample of Rogers playing guard. So, we can at least get an idea of what he brings to the table as an interior lineman since the Raiders announced him as a guard.

One area where Rogers stands out in the running game is on down blocks. Texas Tech runs a trap or wham concept where he is responsible for the nose tackle.

At the point of contact, he has good leverage/knee bend to get his pads down and excellent hand placement, controlling the nose with his inside hand on the chest and washing the nose down by putting his outside hand on the hip. On top of that, Rogers keeps his feet moving through contact to push the defender from the frontside A-gap to the backside B-gap.

Granted, there is room for improvement on this rep as Rogers false steps initially and has his helmet on the defender’s back instead of in front of the defender. But that almost makes this rep even more encouraging, as he could be more effective with improved technique.

This next clip technically isn’t a down block since the Red Raiders call inside zone, where Rogers (lined up at right tackle this time) is originally responsible for climbing up to the backside linebacker. However, Iowa State has a stunt called where the backer crashes hard to the weak side of the formation while the nose tackle slants to the strong side.

The defense is trying to create some confusion up front, but Rogers picks up on it and immediately gets his eyes inside when the linebacker comes downhill. That allows the tackle to pick up the nose, and he has another quality block to kick the nose inside and create a backside cutback lane for the running back.

That’s impressive awareness and physicality to execute the block.

We’ll get another example of the Texas Tech product’s awareness as a run blocker, this time as a puller on the backside of counter.

North Texas blitzes the strong-side linebacker and the strong-side defensive end pinches inside while the weak-side linebacker (No. 32) wraps around to replace the defensive end on the edge. So, while he’s pulling, Rogers eyes up No. 32 initially and makes sure the tight end picks up 32 before climbing up to the second level, highlighting the awareness mentioned above.

Then, he continues to look for work and sees the safety (No. 21) coming down into the box. Blocking a defensive back may seem easy, but the further offensive linemen get up the field, the more they are at a disadvantage since they’re trying to block a better athlete in space.

But Rogers stays under control to push the safety out of the way, creating a rushing lane for the running back. Unfortunately, the right tackle didn’t execute his block, limiting the gain.

This time, we’ll get a more traditional pull from Rogers, where he kicks out the edge defender. Again, he does a good job of staying under control right before making the block to stay in front of the more athletic defender. On top of that, he keeps his feet moving through contact to widen the edge to the numbers for a dominant rep.

In pass protection, something that stands out about Rogers’ game is how he varies the timing of his punch. That can be tough to show without diving into a bunch of different reps, but the clip above is a good example of how it can impact a pass-rusher.

Rogers is patient with his hands and feet post-snap, keeping his feet moving but matching the rusher’s tempo to avoid creating a lane for the rusher while simultaneously having his hands up and ready to shoot at any time. Then, the defender goes to work a cross-chop move, but Rogers hasn’t thrown his punch yet. So, he takes his outside hand away and then attacks, leaving the rusher swatting at air and allowing the tackle to win the rep.

Defensive linemen are often taught to ‘defeat the hands, defeat the man’ when rushing the passer, meaning they start their pass-rush moves by trying to knock the offensive lineman’s hands down. That’s predicated on timing, which gets thrown off if an o-lineman varies when he throws his punch like Rogers does.

Finally, we’ll end with a great rep in pass protection against a wide 9-technique.

What makes blocking that alignment difficult, especially without any help via a chip block from the tight end or running back, is that the tackle has to cover a lot of ground laterally without creating too much space inside, while also gaining ground vertically to avoid getting beaten around the edge.

But Rogers does a good job of getting out of his stance and to the perfect spot where his outside foot splits the defender in half to protect the inside lane while simultaneously getting enough depth to protect the outside lane. From there, he has great timing with his punch again to make the first significant contact and stop the defender’s pass-rush move.

Overall, I thought Rogers stood out a little more at tackle than guard, but right now, it’s a tough call on what his best position at the next level will be. I think he is better in the running game at guard and stands out more in pass protection at tackle. So, we’ll see where he ends up fitting in, and it bodes well for his future that he can play both spots.