Ashton Jeanty ran for 102 yards in the season opener against the Dolphins, but he is averaging just 2.6 yards per carry in the two games since.
Jeany didn’t seem as explosive in weeks 2 and 3, and the consensus seems to be that he’s not back to full strength after tweaking his ankle in the second half of the Dolphins game.
“You can tell that Ashton is not 100 percent and that’s unfortunate,” Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show on Tuesday.
“He just doesn’t have quite that burst right now. You can tell that that ankle is still bothering him. The problem is you take him off the field and all of a sudden that big home run threat is gone… I do think Mike Washington has earned more carries. I do still think the Raiders are going to make sure Ashton Jeanty is still out there because he’s still a big-time threat.”
Former Raider great Lincoln Kennedy chimed in on Jeanty and echoed Myers’ comments.
“I don’t think Ashton is 100 percent. I don’t see that burst. I don’t see that pop,” Kennedy said, adding that Jeanty might not have the burst right now to run outside the tackles.
As some have pointed out this week, Jeanty appeared to have additional tape on his ankles in New Orleans, and if that was the case there isn’t any need for confirmation on what has been hampering Jeanty.
Should the Raiders to turn Mike Washington Jr. more in week 4?
It has been a relatively small sample size (15 carries), but Mike Washington Jr. is averaging 6.8 yards per carry through the first three games, and it’s fair to wonder if his workload might go up a little in week 4.
Washinton isn’t a great pass catcher and is not as reliable in pass protection as Jeanty, but on obvious run downs it wouldn’t be the worst idea to turn to Washington a little more until Jeanty is back to full strength.
x: @raidersbeat