After a solid start to the season in week 1, Ashton Jeanty has run for 189 yards on 65 carries in the last four games.
Jeanty’s woeful clip of just 2.9 yards per carry is to some degree the fault of the Raiders’ offensive line, but the former first round pick has also missed on opportunities to hit running lanes and make defenders miss.
It’s no secret that Jeanty has been dealing with an ankle injury since the start of the season, but if Jeanty’s ankle has been slowing him down, it would have made sense to see him on the injury report or at least limited in a few practices before last week.
If Jeanty has been healthy for the last few weeks, one of the few remaining conclusions is that he might not be the player the Raiders drafted him to be.
League analyst Steve Palazzolo talked about Jeanty this week and said he is starting to get vibes from Jeanty that remind him of former first-round pick Trent Richardson.
“The Jeanty thing, though, I do feel like every carry he morphs between Trent Richardson. I’m concerned and ‘Oh, man. There it is, tough to tackle,” Palazzolo said on the Check the Mic podcast.
Richardson was the third overall pick in the 2012 draft and shared a few traits similar to Jeanty today.
Richardson was a shorter running back (5’9, 225 pounds), who didn’t have tremendous top-end speed, but could be difficult to tackle in tight spaces and would occasionally run through defenders with his low center of gravity.
Unlike Jeanty, Richardson wasn’t known to have tremendous work ethic, but they do share a similar criticism.
Last week, Richie Incognito said he wasn’t sold on the idea of Jeanty being a “bell cow” running back and added that Jeanty’s vision running the football has him concerned at times.
“With Jeanty, it just seems like he’s running with his eyes closed. And we talked about it last week. He’s not very elusive in the backfield,” Incognito said on the Initial Contact podcast.
“You hand him the ball and you say, ‘Jeanty, you’re running through the two hole, the four hole, the six hole.’ He is literally just sprinting towards that hole, and it doesn’t matter if he’s running into a defender, if he’s running into an offensive lineman. That’s where he’s putting that ball.”
Raiders could use a big game from Jeanty in week 6
Jeanty told reporters this week that he is feeling “great” and head coach Klint Kubiak confirmed that Jeanty will be playing on Sunday.
After consecutive losses, the Raiders could use a few playmakers showing up against the Bills, and an explosive game from Jeanty would put to rest some of the concerns cropping up around him.
If all goes as planned for Jeanty and the Raiders this week (and beyond), Palazzolo’s comments will hopefully be the last time Jeanty’s name is mentioned with Trent Richardson.
x: @raidersbeat
