A stay in Sin City with another team for James Cregg parlayed itself into an opportunity to lead his own unit.
“I was obviously at San Francisco last year, we were playing in the Super Bowl here in Vegas,” Cregg began, “So I came to Vegas, I didn’t know I was going to be staying in Vegas.”
The former 49ers assistant offensive line coach is now full-fledged Las Vegas Raiders offensive line coach. Turns out, that prep time San Francisco’s prep time in Las Vegas for their Super Bowl matchup with the AFC West dominating Kansas City Chiefs gave Cregg plenty of tape and time to examine the Silver & Black — particularly since the Raiders win over the Chiefs Christmas Day was film Cregg and 49ers offensive line boss Chris Foerster watched — provided Cregg great insight to the coachability of the Raiders front line.
Cregg liked what he saw from afar and when he got the call, he was more than eager to jump at the chance to be the chef to cook up Las Vegas’ offensive line in 2024.
“And I was watching those guys for two weeks just on tape, and I saw it. And then soon as I got a call from Luke Getsy to see if I’d be interested in taking this opportunity, I jumped at it because I watched what I saw on the tape,” Cregg noted. “I saw Thayer Munford. I saw those kinds of guys like that. I saw Andre James. I saw all those guys. Kolton (Miller) was the missing piece in that game, but I know Kolton Miller, I’ve seen a ton of his film. I didn’t think twice about it. It’s a great opportunity for me, and I’m excited as heck to work with these guys. It’s going to be cool, man. I can’t wait.”
Cregg wasted little time acclimating himself to the Raiders personnel in the trenches. The offensive line has long been the lifeblood of any NFL offense and with Luke Getsy the new play caller on offense, Cregg’s unit becomes an integral part to what Las Vegas intends to do offensively. As Cregg mentioned, Miller at left tackle remains a stalwart piece of the group up front. The team also brought back James on a new contract to man the pivot while drafting a bruiser type youngster in Jackson Powers-Johnson and versatile prospect DJ Glaze to bolster a group that features Dylan Parham and Thayer Munford as projected starters. Las Vegas did well to bring in veterans Cody Whitehair (31) and Andrus Peat (30) via free agency to compete for spots at guard, too.
As we’ve stated before, this isn’t Cregg’s first rodeo as a Raiders coach.
He was an assistant offensive line coach under Tom Cable on head coach Lane Kiffin’s staff in 2007. Cregg would remain in 2008 after Kiffin’s dismissal and Cable was elevated to interim head coach. But Cregg ended up coaching Kiffin’s Tennessee Volunteers offensive line in 2009 with the duo going to USC together as offensive line coach and head coach from 2010 to 2013. Which means the tweet from Kiffin below when Cregg was hired to lead the Raiders offensive line this coming season came to no one’s surprise: