Raiders GM John Spytek made headlines last week when he shared the story of his son’s affinity for Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.
“My oldest son has made it no secret, if we do not pick Ashton Jeanty at six, that he is walking out of the family and he is gonna find somebody else,” Spytek told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Probably whoever takes Ashton… Jack is motivated by fantasy football and touchdowns in fantasy football. Not necessarily all of the team building.”
Some took that as a sign Spytek might be leaning toward Jeanty with the no. 6 pick (although that would be a little silly to assume), but The Athletic’s Vic Tafur wrote on Tuesday about another detail that stood out in Spytek’s comments.
“That last part may be revealing — as Spytek and the Raiders are clearly concerned with team building in Year 1 of the team’s third regime in three years or it just may be Spytek dropping some random breadcrumbs for those trying to figure out what the Raiders are going to do,” Tafur said.
Last week, Tafur’s colleague at The Athletic, Ted Nguyen, made the same point on their podcast, and referenced another dynamic within the Raiders’ building.
“What’s interesting about what he said in that podcast, and a lot of people are saying, ‘Oh, it’s a sign that he’s going to draft Jeanty.’ But he actually said his son was making a fantasy football decision, talking about Jeanty, not [being] a team building decision,” Nguyen said on the Just Win podcast. “I think that kind of opens up a little bit about how he’s thinking about it. That Jeanty is a very tempting draft pick and he’s great, but it’s not the wisest team building decision… I think it’s definitely a discussion that they’re having in a building right now.”
To Nguyen’s point, there will be a lot of discussion in the Raiders’ building around what to do with their first-round pick and it would be naive to believe everyone has the same opinion on Jeanty.
Spytek may want to invest in a position group other than the running backs in round one, but Pete Carroll and Tom Brady are going to have strong voices, as well.
Hypothetically, what would happen if Brady likes Shedeur Sanders, who will probably be on the board when the Raiders are on the clock, and Carroll wants to Jeanty?
Last month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter essentially credited Carroll with the decision to bring Geno Smith to the Raiders.
“Let’s be honest here, when Pete Carroll becomes the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Pete Carroll is the one driving the acquisition of Geno Smith,” Schefter said in March, not long after the Raiders traded for Smith. “You need the support of Tom Brady, who has to sign off on it, but if the Raiders had hired Ben Johnson, or Kellen Moore, or Liam Coen as their head coach, I feel quite confident in saying Geno Smith would not be the quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders today. He would still be in Seattle.”
So, if Spytek, Brady and Carroll aren’t in full agreement on what the Raiders should do with the no. 6 pick, whose vote will win on April 24?
x: @raidersbeat
Jeanty at # 6 he will be a beast. He will take pressure off smith. Hopefully smith can have bowers,Mayer, Tucker, Meyers, and maybe renfro, Lockett and cooper in the mix. Make it happen general spytek.
Jeanty, like most RB, isn’t much without a strong OL. The team can get by with a lesser talent at RB if it can get the right personnel to build an above average OL. Simply, Don’t put the cart b4 the horse!
Good, the raiders don’t need Jentry at 6. That would be a waste of a pick just like Tyree Wilson. The offensive line can’t block or open any hole for him to run thru. Look at film from last year. A cloud of dust and 1 yd.