The Raiders spent the no. 6 overall pick on Ashton Jeanty, but after two games, the former Boise State running back has only 81 rushing yards and is averaging just 2.7 yards per carry.
Whether by design or something else, Jeanty hasn’t been the focal point of the Chip Kelly’s offense in the first two games and that’s something that former Raiders’ linebacker Kirk Morrison believes needs to change.
“He’s a 20 and five guy. If people are going to ask me, that’s going to be my thing for Ashton Jeanty. Not 20 points, five rebounds. He’s 20 rushes and five receptions. That should be his ball game every single week,” Morrison said on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness on Wednesday.
“I would love 25 plays to him. The young bull can go and let’s get him to football. I thought that Geno [Smith] missed a lot of opportunities to get him on those swing routes, the check downs against Daiyan Henley, the linebacker for the Chargers. Get him out in space.”
“I wanted to see Ashton and him one-on-one, and we didn’t get those opportunities because I thought Geno pressed the ball down the field. But man, there was a lot of times, I would say at least three or four times he had Jeanty. So you got to get him involved, and you don’t always have to run the football to do that. Swing it to him, just get him out there in space. He is so close to breaking the big one, you can just see it happening.”
For what it’s worth, Jeanty only played 39 of the Raiders’ 70 offensive snaps on Monday, according to Pro Football Focus, and he was asked this week if he is ready to handle a bigger workload going forward.
“I don’t think you draft a guy like me to not give me carries and touches,” Jeanty told members of the media on Wednesday. “I’m ready for the responsibility… and it’s going to start from me in the run game and I got to continue to get better.”
When Kelly was hired to be Pete Carroll’s offensive coordinator, one of the expectations was that he would jumpstart a running game in Las Vegas that has been ineffective since Josh Jacobs left for Green Bay.
But through two weeks, the Raiders have the second-lowest rushing totals in the league (62.0 yards per game) and the second-worst average yards per carry (2.9 yards per carry).
Only the Bengals have been worse in both categories.
x: @raidersbeat
You have to be able to block for him to have a chance. The linemen have the worst win rate in the NFL so far
Need an OL before a 25 & 5 guy. Plus, Jeanty needs to know the plays
I think Kelly is trying to establish the pass to let Jeanty wear down defenses in the second half. The problem so far is defenses are still daring Geno to best them. Worked week 1, didn’t Week 2.
And I will die on the hill that if Jeanty needs a good OL, he was way overdrafted.
Morrison is right, the OC needs to get Jeanty more involved in the passing game. Carroll and company **** the bed when they failed to recognize the lack of talent along the OL and failed to upgrade the unit. Best we can hope for is a mediocre season. Some things never change with this organization!
I think they are coddling Ashton as if they are afraid they might damage their big investment but what good is going to come from a weapon that never gets used? Intimidation tactics? He has to make his mark as a big play maker in order for that to work. If he doesn’t get field action in order to either prove he is worth all the talk he built up for himself in college he will either find somewhere else the will put him in or prove to be a bust if he can’t put up the numbers he was thought to be able to do. I hope he gets to show us all it was a good decision to draft him. I believe in him.