Last year’s 1st-round pick continues to disappoint in box scores
Last year, Ashton Jeanty‘s disappointing rookie season was largely excused on account of the Raiders’ coaching staff, but in many ways Jeanty has been statistically worse in his first five games with head coach Klint Kubiak.
After running for just 27 yards against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Jeanty now has 264 rushing yards on the season, and is on pace for 897 rushing yards on the season – 78 yards fewer than he tallied a year ago.
Jeanty’s yards-per-carry is down from 3.7 YPC last year to 3.4 YPC this year, and that boggles the mind considering how much energy the coaching staff has put into improving the running game this year.
The offensive line has played a role in Jeanty’s slow start, but one of the reasons you spend a first-round pick on a running back like Jeanty is to get production even when the blocking isn’t perfect.
Is Jeanty definitely an every-down back?
It’s something no one was talking about a month ago, but maybe at 5’8, 208 pounds, Jeanty is as much Jacquizz Rodgers as he is Maurice Jones-Drew.
With Tyler Linderbaum in the middle of the offensive line and Kolton Miller healthy, there’s no reason a Kubiak coached team should be running the ball as poorly as the Raiders have in the first five games of the season.
Jeanty was third in the NFL in broken tackles in 2025, so we know he can make defenders miss, but for reasons we can only wonder, he hasn’t been as elusive in his second season. Hopefully, there’s a simple explanation for Jeanty’s lack of production, but it’s fair to start asking questions.
Should the Raiders incorporate more Mike Washington Jr. going forward?
After Jeanty was limited in practice on Thursday and held out of practice Friday, many believed Mike Washington Jr. would see an increased workload against the Patriots on Sunday, but the rookie ended up getting only one carry.
On the season, Washington is averaging 5.0 yards per carry (on 24 carries), and even though he hasn’t run in the same situations as Jeanty, it might be time to see more of a timeshare in the Raiders’ backfield.
Washington isn’t great in pass protection, but right now Jeanty isn’t great at gaining yards on the ground.
If his ankle is the issue, it might make sense to give Jeanty a week off and see what the offense looks like without him.
If Jeanty misses a week and the running game is still awful, then maybe the issue with the Raiders’ running game is bigger than anyone in the backfield.
x: @raidersbeat
Jeanty was really good playing against the conference that BSU played in. If he had played in the PAC 10, ACC or SEC, he would not have been a 1st round pick. We need a Tyrone Wheatley, Bo Jackson or Marcus Allan. Should have beaten the Chiefs to Kenneth Walker
When you give him 25 touches in each game for the last two games when he’s obviously injured, yeah you really should be concerned. Dumbass.
And then you follow up by making him a gametime decision and let him go today? Dumbass.
We don’t need a receiver. We need real offensive lineman, which Spytek the genius figured that all we needed was Burford, who is an absolute reject loser and a center who twice this season now has had his head not only in front of the football when he snapped it, but in his football pants. Miller is history. He has been for the last three years. And Johnson is terrible. And to say that he’s better than Rogers indicates another dumbass.