The Raiders took a little criticism for drafting a running back with the no. 6 pick in the draft, but Ashton Jeanty was considered by many to be the best running back prospect since Saquon Barkley, and the former Boise State running back filled a huge void on the Las Vegas roster a year after Josh Jacobs left for Green Bay.
Jeanty carried the ball only nine times in his first NFL preseason and he had little room to run against the Patriots on Sunday, but NBC Sports host Chris Simms has seen enough to make a strong statement on Jeanty.
“Ashton Jeanty, I know he’s the star but… I don’t like the way Ashton Jeanty looks,” Simms said on PFT Live.
“He has not impressed me once yet. There’s a lack of explosion that I think is lacking for a guy that was drafted in the top 10. I’m hoping I’m wrong because I loved watching him in college football, but I’ve not been thoroughly impressed at all.”
With only 38 rushing yards against the Patriots in week one, there weren’t many highlights from Jeanty’s first NFL game, but the issue was more about the offensive line than what Jeanty did with his 19 carries.
For Jeanty and the Raiders’ offensive line, the comments from Simms should provide a little more motivation to make a statement this week against the Chargers.
Back in April, Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer talked about the Raiders’ decision to draft Jeanty and he acknowledged there were other players in the mix for the no. 6 pick. Ultimately, though, Jeanty was too exciting of a prospect to pass up.
Breer said the Raiders view Jeanty as a player that might compare to some of the NFL’s all-time great running backs…
“On the field, that wasn’t hard to see. He rushed for 2,601 yards in 2024, 27 short of Barry Sanders’s 36-year-old single-season college record. The stat that really stood out to the Raiders though was the 1,970 Jeanty compiled after contact, which were more than any other back had total in last season (Cam Skattebo was second in rushing yards with 1,711 and Omarion Hampton was third at 1,660—that, again, is total, not after contact).
That reflected a runner with very, very rare contact balance, which is where comparisons to all-time greats such as LaDainian Tomlinson and Emmitt Smith came into focus. He also brings pass-game value and has a second gear to pull away in the open field, evidenced by the fact that he broke runs of 50-plus yards in nine of the Broncos’ 14 games.“
It was also Jeanty’s character that particularly impressed the Raiders…
“Off the field, over the past few months, Jeanty kept checking boxes. What the Raiders were looking for really was what Brady exemplified in Spytek’s time with him in Tampa, where the two spent time together every Tuesday working on the next week’s opponent—the humble superstar. Having those sorts of people, obsessed with football and dialed in on the team’s mission, was the one early priority Brady has set for the new football bosses in Vegas. All the background work showed Jeanty had it. Then, Spytek got to see it.
Traveling to Boise State’s pro day on March 26, the GM wanted to see how Jeanty moved through the building. How he treated lower-level people. How teammates reacted to him. What sort of presence he had within the day’s event and the program in general.
As the players warmed up for workouts, Spytek sidled up to Broncos coach Spencer Danielson and, after some small talk, they dove into Jeanty. Danielson told Spytek he was lying awake the night before, trying to think of something, anything, negative he could say about Jeanty’s three years in Idaho—the 36-year-old coach was worried that he was going to come off as so overwhelmingly glowing, to the point where the NFL coaches and scouts on hand would all think he was full of it. But he legitimately had nothing bad to say.
Then, there was the second piece of it. Boise is a bit of a hotbed for West Coast area and regional scouts for NFL to live in. As such, many of them brought their kids out to the pro day. And Spytek took note of how Jeanty interacted with them, and how many of them were wearing his jersey, with his autograph already on it. Spytek mentioned it to a few of the dads/scouts on hand, and their response was, simply, You gotta take this guy.“
x: @raidersbeat
Chris Simms, It was raining and the field was wet and slippery. The way running backs need to cut was extremely difficult.
Drafting him where we did was absurd. You make a rookie running back from Boise State the second highest paid running back behind Saquon Barkley.
Anyone that thought he was gonna be another Bijon Robinson was sniffing glue.
I agree with Chris.
You see so much explosion out of these running backs. And add to that, that Membou was easily one of the most impressive rookies on Sunday. He was driving Steelers 3 yards down field. I think we will regret passing on him
If you draft a back at 6, he doesn’t have the luxury of blaming the offensive line. Most running backs play well when their offensive line gives them holes to run through. That’s why positional value is a thing in the draft. Jeanty needs to be an all-pro level player to justify the pick.
That said it’s one real game, NE wanted the Raiders to beat them with their passing game, and the Raiders play action game was really effective even though Jeanty didn’t do much.
Part of me just thinks he needs to adjust to the fact that he can’t just bulldoze NFL defenders the way he did in college. He showed wiggle in college, so he may just need to pick his spots to drop his shoulder a little better.
The team had a weak OL last season, and all they basically did was bring in a different coach hoping that would be the remedy, but the so far they look bottom tier, again. Hard for ANY RB to gain positive yardage when the defenders are in the backfield during the handoff!
At least Zeus steps out of the first tackle.
Being drafted 6th overall has some heavy pressure. The guy certainly played well in College. Boise State had a good offensive line. Can the Raiders create holes for Jeanty that allow him to reach the 2nd level? If defensive coordinators can keep him stalled at the line of scrimmage it ain’t going to work.
He did reach the second level
I was hoping they kept Sincere McCormick. He showed enough vision to gain yardage behind the bad OL we fielded last season. Instead they kept White and the aging vet Mosert. I don’t agree with some of these moves by Carroll.