Ashton Jeanty is getting healthier each week, but the proof continues to not show up in the box scores.
Sunday’s 33-30 loss to the Bills marked the fourth time in five games that Jeanty was held under three yards per carry, and it was the fourth time in six games that Mike Washington Jr. averaged at least four yards per carry.
The Raiders made a big investment in Jeanty a year ago, but if his production doesn’t improve, head coach Klint Kubiak might need to move away from Jeanty as the team’s true no. 1 running back.
Jeanty might be a little undersized, but he was at least supposed to bring an explosive element to the Raiders’ offense. To this point, though, Washington has been the running back bringing more big plays to the offense.
Three of the Raiders’ four longest runs on the season have come from Washington, despite Washington having only 25 carries compared to Jeanty’s 88.
Two dynamics still working against Jeanty and the Raiders’ running game
Jeanty said he was feeling great at practice this week and didn’t even show up on the injury report by the end of the week, but television cameras caught Jeanty grimacing after runs two times in the first quarter of Sunday’s game.
If his foot and/or ankles are still bothering him, the Raiders need to shut Jeanty down and give him a week off. It’s not fair to Jeanty to keep running him out each week to average two yards per carry if he’s not healthy.
Everyone is saying he’s healthy, but if the healthy version of Jeanty is what we’ve seen for the last few weeks, that’s not great news for the Raiders in the long term.
The other issue still effecting the Raiders’ running game is the run blocking.
Jeanty was once again met in the backfield on several occasions, including a goal line stuff on what appeared to be a missed block by second-year guard Caleb Rogers.
The coaching staff needs to get that situation sorted out sooner than later, too.
How long before Washington takes on a bigger role?
It looked like Washington held up reasonably well in pass protection against the Bills, so if that is what has been keeping Washington off the field, he might have changed some minds on Sunday.
Washington is bigger than Jeanty and has more straight-line speed, and even though he’s only in his first season, he is actually four months older than Jeanty. Washington actually wasn’t that far behind Jeanty in terms of career carries in college.
Over the course of his five-year college career, Washington tallied 587 carries compared to Jeanty’s 750 at Boise State.
We’ll see how the Raiders’ running back situation plays out next week against the Rams, but there’s no question the situation ought to be moving toward a true running back by committee based on production in the last few weeks.
x: @raidersbeat
