Ashton Jeanty’s workload turning into double-edged sword

Sunday was a day that the Las Vegas Raiders would love to forget happened, as they dropped their second straight game in blowout fashion to the Washington Commanders.

Despite the scoreline suggesting a negative game script where the Raiders would trust Geno Smith to air out the ball again, the coaching staff did a good job to keep the running game involved. As a result, rookie running back Ashton Jeanty got another opportunity to prove why he was deserving of the sixth overall selection back in April. Jeanty ultimately finished the game with 17 carries on the afternoon, his biggest workload of the season so far.

While the continued commitment to Jeanty and the running game is nice for the Raiders, it also exposed a fair number of problems the team has at the moment.

Several aspects of the Raiders suggest that Jeanty is not in as optimal a position as initially anticipated.

Despite receiving 17 carries, Jeanty was only able to produce 63 yards, averaging 3.7 yards per touch.

It is clear that Jeanty has the talent to make good on his high draft status, but the Raiders might not have the pieces around to help him out at the moment. The offensive line, in particular, has struggled to open up lanes for Jeanty to break off big runs.

No statistic is greater proof than the one presented by ESPN’s Ryan McFadden, who pointed out that Jeanty has been hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 57 percent of his carries after three games.