Ashton Jeanty has now played in 24 career games for the Las Vegas Raiders, so it finally feels fair to make more broad-sweeping comments about how the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft is panning out for the franchise. Simply, he has not at all been what fans or the organization expected.
The Raiders thought they were getting a bell cow running back who would single-handedly change the fate of a run game that had faced years and years of struggle. They felt that Jeanty would be the centerpiece of a run-heavy offense, but that hasn't exactly materialized either - at least not yet.
But Jeanty brings undeniably great skills to the offense and has thrived in some ways in his young NFL career. Just not in the way that most thought he would. Fans can get wrapped up in whether or not he's a bust, and that's not an unimportant determination to make. But it is a bit unproductive.
Jeanty will probably be on the roster for at least the next two and a half years, so Las Vegas needs to find a way to make this partnership work. It starts with an honest evaluation of the second-year running back, including what excuses one can make for him, the bad, and the good and great.
Ashton Jeanty: the excuses
Let's start with the obvious: the offensive line hasn't been adept since Jeanty arrived. Brennan Carroll was a disaster last year as the unit's coach and the run game coordinator, with fringe NFL players getting major reps and making life incredibly difficult for Jeanty, both mentally and physically.
With both a poor plan and even poorer execution of said plan up front, Jeanty had nowhere to go on so many of his rookie rushes. He got hit in the backfield repeatedly and was forced to carve out nearly all of his yards after contact. And the product hasn't been that much better in 2026.
While the offensive line has seemingly improved its pass-blocking, the run game is still a work in progress. Jeanty has felt the brunt of that again as the team's leading carrier, with so many plays simply being dead on arrival for the Las Vegas offense after a brutally blown assignment.
Not only that, but Klint Kubiak's system is difficult to learn or master. This is true for the running backs and the offensive linemen, who desperately need to work in tandem for this scheme to work. It took a while for the Seattle Seahawks to get there last year, and it is taking a while for the Raiders this year.
Last season, it was more about the overall offensive environment being putrid with a lack of cohesion and a quarterback who constantly took sacks and coughed the ball up, which put the team behind the 8-Ball and only allowed them to run the ball in the first half. They were always playing from behind.
This year, the team's quarterback is severely limited in what he can do, and the pass-catching group doesn't have a lot of players who can separate well on a consistent basis. That has left teams to stack the box against Jeanty and the run game, making life even more difficult for them.
On top of all of this, Jeanty has not been at 100%, health-wise, during the 2026 NFL season. His ankle injury that he suffered in the preseason is clearly still bugging him, as Jeanty gets up wincing during games and just doesn't look as good physically as he did a year ago.
That is a lot to overcome for a young player.
Ashton Jeanty: the bad
One can easily bake in excuses for Jeanty, but he is not absolved of blame either.
Perhaps his biggest flaw is his hesitation upon receiving a handoff. Jeanty often waits too long for a bigger hole to develop than one that he can squeeze through in front of him. He doesn't get downhill quickly enough at times while trying to manipulate linebackers and gets caught in the backfield.
It often seems like Jeanty does not trust his vision or his feet, and that puts him behind on plays. And on top of that, he hasn't been as elusive as he was billed to be, at least not this year. Jeanty has forced just 10 missed tackles, which is tied with George Holani, MarShawn Lloyd and Blake Corum.
That is certainly not the echelon of player that Jeanty should be lumped in with.
Jeanty has also failed to create many explosive runs in his career, as he has just five rushes of 10+ yards this season, and three of them came in Week 1. He's had zero since Week 4. In his rookie season, in 10 of his 17 games, he had zero or one rush of 10+ yards. That is a glaring issue.
Production is production at the end of the day, and Jeanty is averaging just 54.3 yards per game in his career so far, with a measly 3.5 yards per attempt. And his stats have dramatically fallen off this year in what is a better overall offensive situation, one that he should have seriously improved in.
But he hasn't.
Ashton Jeanty: the good and great
Lost in the discussions about his lack of rushing success is the fact that Jeanty is a downright elite receiving back, among the very best in the league. And by a lot of metrics, Jeanty has been the best pass-catching back in the NFL during the 2026 campaign.
His 34 receptions are tied with Christian McCaffrey for the league lead among running backs, but Jeanty's 312 receiving yards are the most at the position, as are his three touchdowns through the air. If any other running back were doing this, they'd be getting praised like crazy for it.
In 2026, Jeanty has almost as many receiving yards (312) as rushing yards (328) and two more touchdowns as a receiver than as a rusher. Sure, he's had some drops, but Jeanty is a certified weapon in the passing game, and that just gets glossed over, as if it is unimportant.
Sure, it doesn't solve the run game issues, and the lack of a ground attack doesn't help the offense as a whole. But maybe grinding out yards between the tackles isn't Jeanty's forte at the NFL level. Perhaps Las Vegas leaves that to someone else and uses Jeanty as a McCaffrey.
Can McCaffrey get it done on the ground? Absolutely. Jeanty has to grow a lot to be in the same breath as him. But if Jeanty can be utilized as an elite pass-catching back in tandem with Mike Washington Jr. as the lead rusher, that would be a way for him to make a huge impact.
It is what he's great at, and that is not inimportant or insignificant. Jeanty may never become the every-down stud that fans wanted or expected him to be, and that is disappointing but not really disastrous. He is a talented player who can affect the game if used properly.
Kubiak seems to be figuring that out, little by little.
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