Klint Kubiak hasn't been afraid to make changes in his first season as the Las Vegas Raiders' head coach, and Sunday's win against the New York Jets brought about another major one. Ashton Jeanty, the No. 6 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, was essentially replaced by Day 3 rookie Mike Washington Jr.
It remains unclear whether this was merely an experiment by the Raiders, whether this had anything to do with Jeanty's comments early in the week, or whether this was a harbinger of things to come for the Las Vegas offense.
Either way, the Raiders badly needed a boost in the rushing department, and Kubiak made an unignorable statement in the Week 8 victory in an attempt to get it done. He didn't keep the status quo, for which he deserves tons of praise as a young leader.
Klint Kubiak's shake-up at RB deserves praise from Raider Nation
After giving Jeanty 60.9 percent of the carries in the first seven games of the campaign, Kubiak made a drastic change on Sunday: Washington Jr. had 25 rushes, compared to just two for Jeanty. The second-year running back had just 6.1 percent of the team's carries in Week 8. A complete demotion.
Washington Jr.'s 25 carries were the most in a single game for a Raiders running back this year, which is interesting, considering Jeanty had seven games as the lead back to reach that number. The rookie also had 83 yards on the ground, the most for a Las Vegas rusher since Jeanty's 102 in Week 1.
This was also the first game in which Washington Jr. out-snapped Jeanty, with the former playing 38 snaps, compared to the latter's 25. Washington Jr. ran the ball as often as Jeanty was on the field; that is quite the paradigm shift for Kubiak's offense.
And it is hard to argue with the results, even though Washington Jr. ran for just 3.3 yards per carry. The Raiders put up 31 points on offense and had their third-most rushing yards of the season, as well as their most since Week 3. Granted, the Jets' run defense is poor and was without two key pieces.
That said, Las Vegas has struggled against plenty of banged-up defenses this year. And they've led in several games as well, so the "favorable game script" argument doesn't really apply here. The fact of the matter is that Kubiak made a change, and it succeeded. He bucked the status quo, and it worked.
Does this mean that things will stay the same going forward? Kubiak didn't commit to that in the post-game press conference, but he wouldn't tell the media his plans anyway. Still, let's see what he and others had to say about the big shift that occurred at MetLife Stadium in Week 8 for the Raiders.
What Klint Kubiak said about Mike Washington Jr.-Ashton Jeanty splits vs. Jets
Of course, Kubiak was asked about what went into the decision to have Washington Jr. take on the premier role in the running back room while Jeanty served as the complementary back. The young head coach was a bit evasive, but it's not hard to read between the lines of what he said.
"That's my call, and Ashton's still going to be a big part of our team. He had a huge catch. Huge catch. He's going to be a huge part of our run game going forward. We just wanted to give Mike a few more opportunities today. And I think both of those guys are going to be a huge part of our rushing and passing success moving forward."
Compared to what Kubiak said this offseason, which is that elite players like Jeanty need to be on the field as much as possible, his comments here sure feel like an admission that things have changed a bit. And his actions in Week 8 speak even louder than those words.
"We just have to look at the film because we have two runners that we believe in" is coach-speak. This is not to say that Kubiak and the Raiders have given up on Jeanty, but just as Washington Jr. earned his snaps at the beginning of the year, it's possible that Jeanty will now have to do the same.
To his credit, Jeanty kept a team-first attitude and took things in stride.
"We won. It doesn't matter how I feel about how [many] times I get the ball. Whatever it takes for the team to win, I just want to win. That's all."
It certainly helps that the coaching staff in Las Vegas warned Jeanty before the game that he wasn't going to be the featured runner. Not only does that reflect well on the Raiders' leaders and speak to their transparency and care for the players, but this highlights Jeanty's maturity and great attitude.
Since he came to Las Vegas, Kubiak has preached competition. But unlike his predecessor, he really means it. A lot of teams and coaches wouldn't abandon a top pick like that in a game, but Kubiak doesn't care who you are. He doesn't care where you were drafted or what your contract details are.
Kubiak wants to win, and he will continue to rock the boat until the ship is righted. He did just that on Sunday by breaking routine in the Raiders' running back room, and whether or not this is a permanent change, the Silver and Black's young coach deserves loads of credit for that.
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