Jon Gruden says Denzelle Good ‘going to start’ at right guard vs. Broncos

The guard position has been a major cause of concern for the Raiders throughout the preseason. Denzelle Good was out with an injury, but he came back near the end of camp. Richie Incognito was signed to be the starting left guard, but is facing a two-game suspension to begin the season. Gabe Jackson was slated to be the starting right guard, but went down with a knee injury in the joint practices with the Rams.

However, Good has looked, well, good in his return to the team, and Jon Gruden has big plans for him in the upcoming Monday Night Football game against the Broncos.

“Denzelle, I think, is going to start for us. He has a chance to be our starting right guard. He’s doing great. It’ll be a fun game. When you watch Denver play in the preseason, you don’t see some of their players very much. When they watch our preseason tape, they probably aren’t going to see some of the guys that are going to play against them very much. It’ll be a real fun, interesting Monday Night game,” said Gruden after Monday’s practice.

However, even if Good performs well against Denver, the right guard job shouldn’t be his for very long as Gabe Jackson was at practice Monday, though not participating fully yet.

“Yeah, I saw Gabe walking around. So, I followed him around to see how that knee is doing. Really happy to see the progress that he’s made. We didn’t put him on IR for that reason. We think after the first few ballgames he’ll be close to returning,” said Gruden.

‘First few ballgames’ isn’t particularly specific, but let’s assume Gruden means two games. That would put both Jackson and Incognito in line to return for the Week 3 game at Minnesota. Hopefully, until then, Good can live up to his name at the right guard spot.