July is here, and that means training camp will be here before we know it!

Position battles are about to be waged.

The seeds of breakout seasons to come are about to be sown across the country, under the broiling summer heat that only practice fields in July and August can provide.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be announcing the stops along our second-annual training camp tour, so be on the lookout!

This week’s mailbag features your questions on Ashton Jeanty’s potential in Las Vegas, with insight from a rival exec, one prominent agent weighing in on where he believes Baker Mayfield’s contract negotiations with the Buccaneers will land, a best guess on Caleb Williams’ second campaign in head coach Ben Johnson’s system, and more.

Let’s get after it!

After the offseason investments in the infrastructure around him, there might not be a bigger bounce-back candidate across the NFL than Ashton Jeanty.

Jeanty arrived in Las Vegas last spring, not just as the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft but the latest in a lineage of “generational” running backs following in Saquon Barkley’s and Bijan Robinson’s footsteps.

Unfortunately, though, Jeanty was forced to languish through a wildly inconsistent and underwhelming rookie season, in large part because of an incredibly incompetent situation around him.

Former head coach Pete Carroll seemed intent on running Jeanty into the ground, handing him the football 266 times (the seventh-most carries in the league), and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly seemed wholly disinterested in figuring out how to maximize Jeanty’s incredible burst and elusiveness, going so far as to completely change his pre-snap stance in the backfield.

It’s difficult to rationalize Jeanty forcing 61 missed tackles, fifth-most in the league, while averaging only 3.06 Yards After Contact per rushing attempt, other than as a byproduct of running behind a shoddy offensive line and jammed into the interior of the line of scrimmage rather than setting him loose off the edge.

Last season, only one running back averaged fewer yards before contact than Jeanty’s 1.28 per carry.

Suboptimal would be an understatement.

Through that lens, it’s easy to see why Linderbaum in particular was the Raiders’ top target in free agency.

Last season with the Ravens, Linderbaum produced an elite 83.2 run-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked fourth among centers.

Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins’ and Fernando Mendoza’s arrivals signal the potential for far more competency in the passing game, which should create softer boxes for Jeanty to exploit in a system that’s built around punishing front sevens.

After all, Kubiak bludgeoned opponents with a sports car, in Kenneth Walker, last season in Seattle, and could replicate that formula with Jeanty in 2026.

Last season, Walker rushed for 1,027 yards and five touchdowns, while producing 33 explosive runs of 10 yards or more despite averaging just three yards after contact per attempt.

Walker’s success wasn't an accident; it was a byproduct of Kubiak's highly efficient outside-zone scheme, which uses horizontal stretch to create massive cutback lanes. Jeanty is a dynamic, elastic lateral cutter … he’s the exact type of runner who thrives when given the freedom to read the edge and explode. It is a perfect structural match that stands in stark contrast to the stagnant, old-school, interior slamming that Carroll and Kelly stubbornly insisted on last year.

“I’d expect him, and the Raiders to be better,” an NFC West Personnel Executive told Between The Hashmarks, of Jeanty, on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.

Beyond Linderbaum, the Raiders also added Spencer Burford and drafted Trey Zuhn to bolster the depth up front.

Presuming the Raiders’ offensive line improves, and Kubiak is able to import the same success on the ground that he built the Seahawks’ 2025 juggernaut around, look for Jeanty to be among the biggest beneficiaries of a Sin City Revival.

“There’s going to be lots of wide zone, and play-action concepts,” the NFC West executive predicted. “They were just so disjointed last year, so expect things to be more tied together as they try to protect Kirk Cousins and get Mendoza ready for the last month of the season.”

After being held to only 975 rushing yards as a rookie, if most things go according to plan, there’s no reason Jeanty’s skill set in this new situation can’t push for at least a 1,200-yard season while putting a real scare into a double-digit touchdown campaign, announcing his presence among the sport’s most explosive backs.

There are legitimate questions and genuine concerns abound, about what the Eagles’ offense will become in 2026.

Philadelphia is trying to maximize 121 targets previously earmarked to A.J. Brown’s explosive big-play ability; genuine star DeVonta Smith, first-round rookie Makai Lemon, veteran journeymen like Hollywood Brown and Dontayvion Wicks have all been well-documented.

However, I think you have hit on a potentially significant concern that has bubbled just beneath the surface in the City of Brotherly Love for the past year; an elite offensive line beginning to regress to the mean.

Last December, I asked a defensive coach who played the Eagles what the biggest reason for the offensive regression was last season, and he immediately pointed to the offensive line.