After going down in Sunday’s practice with what appeared to be a significant injury, it has been determined since that Ashton Jeanty suffered only an ankle sprain and is not expected to miss a significant amount of time.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday that there were still questions about how long Jeanty will be out, and on Tuesday morning NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport hinted at a timeline on Jeanty’s return.
As is often the case with ankle injuries, they can be difficult to predict within the first few days, but for now it sounds like Jeany is considered week-to-week.
It also appears he avoided the dreaded high ankle sprain.
From Rapoport on NFL Insiders…
“There were some tense hours in the Las Vegas Raiders building when Ashton Jeanty went down. You hear the description from practice, players kneeling in prayer thinking it was a major injury, having to be helped off the field. Immediately, you hear all that you think this is not going to be good. Could this be a season ending thing? It’s nothing like that.
My understanding… is that it’s an ankle sprain believed to be more low than high and not considered to be a major injury. But it is a real injury and the reality is there is a chance that Ashton Jeanty may not be on the field for week 1. They are hopefully that he will be. There is a chance that he won’t be, which certainly does mean a couple things.
It’s not the season ending situation that I think some were scared about… and they are going to see a backup running back that they actually like a lot, and that might not be a bad thing, either.”
Raiders gaining confidence in rookie running back Mike Washington Jr.
The backup running back Rapoport was referring to is Mike Washinton Jr., who is already looking like one of the steals of the draft.
The Raiders drafted Washinton in the fourth round of this year’s draft and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, he was one of three running backs the team was targeting in the draft.
“They had high grades on all three of these running backs,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast in April. “They wanted to come out with one of these three… Jadarian Price, the running back out of Notre Dame. They really, really liked him. Had he slipped to the second round, I very much believe they would have absolutely pulled the trigger on him in the second round… The Raiders loved him,”
“There were three [running backs] they had all grouped at a very high level. They wanted to get one of these three. Now, they did have them valued one, two, and three, but one of those three, and they would have been very pleased. The other one was Kaelon Black, the Indiana running back. They really liked him. He [was drafted] in the third round… and so he goes in the third round… They believed there was a chance for Jadarian and a chance for Kaelon Black. They thought that it may work out if Jadarian didn’t slip, Kaelon would.”
“They thought… that Mike Washington would have went a lot higher than where he went,” Carpenter continued. “[The] Raiders picked him at pick 122 [in the] fourth round. I can tell you right now, they had a second-round grade on Washington. They loved him. They loved Price. They loved Kaelon Black. They loved Mike Washington and… he is fast. He is a wrecking ball and when you look at the one-two punch of him and Ashton Jeanty… and remember that’s the Klint Kubiak way.”
x: @raidersbeat
BENGALS MIGHT BE WAIVING ERIC GENTRY! WE WOULD HAVE FIRST CHOICE TO CLAIM HIM. THAT WOULD BE A SMART PICKUP.
I think we should our position to get the best WR cut loose, but I agree that Gentry would be nice to have. He’s definitely a practice squad guy, needs to continue building the body. Kid plays with all kinds of heart, and has a knack for being around the ball.