The Las Vegas Raiders made quite the gamble selecting Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick last April. Although he's had his moments during his inaugural campaign, the offense has been saddled by poor quarterback and offensive line play, leading to a largely disappointing rookie year.
While Jeanty has done an incredible job of breaking tackles and gaining yards after contact, his numbers and impact have been minimized by a poor supporting cast. Last week, some even started throw around the dreaded "bust" label when referring to him, even though it hasn't been his fault.
Things got so bad that some were even beginning to blame Jeanty for not doing more, and claiming that he'll be a bust no matter how he played because the Raiders had other needs. With the Houston Texans' league-best defense on the schedule in Week 16, fans expected these problems to persist.
Ashton Jeanty just shut all his haters up in Raiders' game vs. Texans
Except they didn't. Jeanty, whether he heard the noise or not, silenced all his doubters and shut plenty of people up with his unbelievable performance on Sunday, which came against the second-best run defense in the league, no less.
His stat line speaks for itself: 25 touches for 188 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, which includes a 51-yard touchdown run and a 60-yard touchdown reception. Jeanty forced 10 missed tackles against the league's best defense and had 106 of his 128 rushing yards after contact.
It is no coincidence that the offensive line had arguably its best game of the season and it catapulted Jeanty into stardom against Houston. Jeanty still did most of the work himself, however. He just needs the big boys up front to not be an utter disaster, and he can be a factor against anyone.
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Looking at Jeanty's rookie year, it is amazing how much production he has, given his circumstances. The young star currently has 1,154 all-purpose yards and 10 touchdowns, equally split between rushing and receiving, with two games left in the season. He also has a whopping 50 catches.
If you would have told most of Raider Nation that Jeanty had 1,300 total yards and double-digit touchdowns, they would be incredibly pleased with that. It may not have looked like it should, or been as consistent as fans wanted it to be, but his production cannot be denied.
With massive reinforcements expected to come this offseason, either in the form of upgraded talent or a better offensive line coach and run game coordinator, fans can't help but imagine how impactful this young player is going to be in Year 2.
Jeanty hasn't been what a lot of fans billed him up to be, but for the thousandth time, he is doing all that he can. He just needs a bit of help, as every NFL player does, and he got that in Week 16. Jeanty is a star in the making, if not one already, so he is anything but a bust. Sunday proved that.