Consider this blog something of a preseason exercise: over the next few weeks (and, tbh, months), we're going to get a lot of moments where it seems like the Raiders are being snubbed. They haven't exactly earned the benefit of the doubt over the last few seasons, and even with all the exciting offseason additions that the team made this year, it still feels like they're going to have to go above and beyond to prove that they should be taken seriously.
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So with that in mind, it's probably not all that surprising to see Raiders' running back Ashton Jeanty not included anywhere – literally anywhere – on ESPN's big new list of the best NFL running backs heading into 2025. They worldwide leader took a big anonymous poll of executives, coaches, and scouts around the league in order to put together their Top-10, and Jeanty is nowhere to be seen. He didn't even land on someone's honorable mention list! The NFL's first big controversy of the season has arrived.
Ashton Jeanty doesn't appear anywhere on ESPN's big poll of best NFL RBs
Here's the list, in case you really wanted to ratchet that internet rage up on a Monday morning. And here's the standard-issue part of a blog where I feel obligated to say that it's probably not that big of a deal that a running back who hasn't actually played one (1) single snap of professional football isn't on a mid-July preseason Top-10 list. It is totally fine that the NFL world prefers James Connor right now. In fact, I hope defensive coordinators spend the first 10 weeks of the year holding onto this status quo as hard as they can. The Raiders-Vs-The-World shirts are probably being printed and handed out at the practice facility as we speak.
Still – I bet this list ages pretty terribly before it's all said and done. If Jeanty really does end up being the generational back that everyone seems to think he is, the more interesting question is where he's going to debut on this list whenever it drops next summer. 5? 3? 1?!? It's easy to see a world where any of those are realistic, which is in itself a microcosm for why the Raiders are such an exciting team to pay attention to right now. We'll see you here next summer for possibly the most smug blog in the history of smug blogs.