Raiders Roster Evaluation: Nick Martin

The 2021 NFL Draft is now behind us, and that means teams across the NFL are in the process of piecing together their entire rosters.

The Las Vegas Raiders are likely no different before what could be a pivotal fourth season of the second Jon Gruden era.

That's why we'll be going over roster evaluations for the Raiders players and position groups to see how everyone's stock measures up heading into the summer.

The Raiders made a multi-year commitment to Andre James seemingly as their center of the future. 

There is a level of the unknown still, as this will be the first season James enters as a starter.  James played a lot of football last year on special teams and took hundreds of reps with Derek Carr in practice.

There could be an adjustment period in store for James as he gets used to a full-time role. 

In case something like that happens, there is a veteran option the Raiders could go to if needed. 

That would be Nick Martin, a former second-round pick out of Notre Dame who started every game he played over the last four seasons with the Houston Texans.

Martin was ranked usually more towards the middle of the pack among centers by Pro Football Focus, with his highest placement being 17th- best in the league. 

He is coming off his lowest-ranked season, as part of an overall Houston team that was one of the worst in the league last season. 

Martin still managed to excel in pass protection, ranking seventh out of 36 eligible players by PFF. 

It remains to be seen how high of a ceiling James will have as a starter, but at the very least, the Raiders know they'll have a capable backup to go to just in case.