Depending on where you look, you can find quite the variety of Raiders predictions for 2025. Basically everyone agrees that they're much better than the four-win team that we were all forced to watch last season, but it is, admittedly, tough to figure out just how many wins the Geno Smith-Pete Carroll duo is worth in 2025 – especially in the AFC West.
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But win projections are so boring. You know what's cool? Awards predictions. And awards predictions that go to the Raiders are especially cool. Maybe even cooler than wins? (Whatever, I tried.) Fortunately we don't have to debate that right now, all thanks to Albert Breer. In his latest NFL mailbag, Breer found the perfect way to distract Raiders fans from their own ongoing internal debates: by predicting a Rookie of the Year for Ashton Jeanty. When asked which rookie not named Travis Hunter could make a run at the award, Breer gave us 200 glorious words to chew on for the next six weeks.
Albert Breer officially picks Ashton Jeanty to win Rookie of the Year in 2025
" ... I’d go with Ashton Jeanty. Young running backs typically contribute fast. Bijan Robinson had 1,483 scrimmage yards on 272 touches as a rookie in 2023. Saquon Barkley had 2,052 scrimmage yards on 352 touches in ’18. Leonard Fournette had 1,342 scrimmage yards on 304 touches, and Christian McCaffrey had 1,098 scrimmage yards on 197 touches in ’17. Ezekiel Elliott had 1,994 on 354 touches (and won the rushing title) in ’16. And Todd Gurley went for 1,294 on 250 touches in just 13 games in ’15. Those were the six running backs that went in the top 10 over the 10 drafts before this one. The bottom line is if you invest that high of a pick in that position, you’re going to expect, and should expect, a pretty healthy return right away. Math on the aforementioned half-dozen emphatically affirms it—the average rookie scrimmage yards for those guys was 1,543. So, to me, that makes Jeanty an easy Rookie of the Year pick, just as easy as Hunter."
Saquon Barkley! Christian McCaffrey! Ezekiel Elliot? All* (*most) of these names being used in comparison with Jeanty is the type of preseason hype that we needed. It's not that the prediction is all that surprising – Jeanty's reputation preceds him in that way – but it never hurts to hear that your favorite team drafted the Rookie of the Year. Sometimes, it really is the simple things.