The Las Vegas Raiders looked like a sleeping giant before the 2025 NFL season. With a legendary head coach, a bright young mind as the general manager, the No. 6 overall pick in the draft and a mountain of salary cap space to sit on, there was no reason to think this team wouldn't be improved.
Unfortunately, their 2-5 start to the year, which includes four blowout losses in the last six weeks, has both the new regime and fan base questioning everything. This includes the selection of running back Ashton Jeanty in the first round, which fans were initially excited about.
However, after a rough start to his rookie campaign and the Raiders looking more than just a running back away from being a serious competitor in the AFC, some have begun to revisit Las Vegas' choice with the sixth overall pick.
Raiders take Emeka Egbuka over Ashton Jeanty in too-early 2025 redraft
On Thursday, FanSided's Justin Carter decided to do a way-too-early redraft of the 2025 class, using the information that fans and executives now have through seven weeks. Instead of taking Jeanty in the first round, the Raiders opted for now-Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka.
"Ashton Jeanty was a luxury pick for a team that thought it was just a couple of pieces away from having an elite offense," Carter wrote. "This time, let's give them someone who actually moves them closer to where they think they are offensively by giving them the best wide receiver in this class."
Carter is correct that the Raiders took Jeanty under the assumption that their offense would be a lot further along. But that was a gross miscalculation, and if the team had it to do again, there is no guarantee that they would make the same choice.
Egbuka, despite playing two games hampered by injuries, has already caught 31 passes for 527 yards and five touchdowns this season on a great offense in Tampa Bay that has plenty of mouths to feed. These numbers eclipse Jeanty's 445 yards and three touchdowns on 111 touches.
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To be fair, Jeanty's struggles can largely be attributed to the offensive line not holding up its end of the bargain. Jeanty's 26 forced missed tackles are the third-most in the NFL, his 384 yards after contact rank fifth, and his elusivity rating is fifth among running backs with more than 65 attempts.
Las Vegas' offense has also been inhibited by the poor play of quarterback Geno Smith, so something tells me that Egbuka wouldn't be having quite the same success without Baker Mayfield and a series of studs like Bucky Irving, Mike Evans and Rachaad White around him.
In John Spytek and Pete Carroll's defense, Jeanty was a generational running back prospect, and the Raiders had the worst rushing offense in the league the year prior. This felt like a match made in heaven, and it not working out thus far has not been due to his underperforming.
Perhaps a bigger argument could be made for Las Vegas taking an offensive tackle like Josh Simmons or Armand Membou, both of whom were still on the board at No. 6 in this exercise. Evaluations like this, however, can only be made with the privilege of time. Much more than just seven weeks.