During a Las Vegas Raiders training camp practice in August, the scene that was set suggested running back Ashton Jeanty had possibly suffered a season-ending leg injury. It turned out to only be an ankle sprain, and the second-year man has not missed any games so far this season.
Since topping 100 yards on the ground in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins, Jeanty is averaging just 2.9 yards per carry. Some of that is due to lackluster play from the offensive line, in an unfortunate parallel to last season, but Jeanty has also not looked healthy.
The running back added a foot issue to his ankle issue heading into Week 5 against the New England Patriots, which put his availability for the game in doubt. A short, nine-minute pregame workout left it open to interpretation regarding his availability, but he did suit up.
While it should be appreciated that Jeanty wants to gut it out and play through injuries, the game situation in a 45-17 loss to New England seemed to do more to limit his snap share than anything. With a nod toward being the more trusted back in pass protection, Dylan Laube saw more action than rookie Mike Washington when the game was out of hand.
In a Week 6 collection of league-wide buzz, with colleague Jeremy Fowler, ESPN's Dan Graziano had a note about the Raiders and Jeanty.
"The Raiders have internally discussed giving Jeanty a week off to heal at some point. He does not want to take a week off and has pushed to play through the injuries. But the Raiders' bye isn't until Week 13, and there may come a week in the near future where they decide the best thing for Jeanty and for the team is to rest him. They have confidence in rookie running back Mike Washington Jr.'s ability to hold things down for a game or two with Dylan Laube backing him up, if it came to that."
Raiders could rest Ashton Jeanty to help him get healthy
While not having Jeanty in uniform against the defending AFC champions would've been less than ideal, the same idea applies to upcoming games against the Buffalo Bills (Week 6), Los Angeles Rams (Week 7), San Francisco 49ers (Week 9) and Seattle Seahawks (Week 10). In terms of him pushing to play, and him being cleared to play, at what point does common sense get to prevail?
With or without Jeanty, the Raiders have more tough games coming. He has added a foot injury to his ongoing ankle issue, as he has looked increasingly ineffective as a runner in recent weeks.
Of course, the always forthcoming when it comes to injuries Klint Kubiak squashed any idea of resting Jeanty when asked about it on Wednesday.
Kubiak said #Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty is starting to “feel a lot better” physically.
— Ryan McFadden (@ryanmcfadden_) October 14, 2026
When asked if the team considered sitting Jeanty to get him healthy, Kubiak said “He’s playing.”
The Raiders probably had some level of discussion about Jeanty not playing against the Patriots, so that part of Graziano's reporting isn't a revelation. It's just a matter of actually giving him a week off to heal, even if it's against his will, and that should have been done in Week 5.
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