Apr 25, 2025; Henderson, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders first round draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft Ashton Jeanty, speaks to the media at Intermountain Health Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images Candice Ward-Imagn Images

Raiders' Jeanty Has Tools to Register Best Rookie Season Ever

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated May 22, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft to be nothing less than a stabilizing force out of the backfield.

Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus believes that while the bar for all-time rookie seasons is high, Jeanty has a unique opportunity to register the best rookie season ever for several reasons.

Jeanty is superiorly talented, but must prove he is by National Football League standards. Luckily, he will have ample opportunity to do so for a Raiders team needing to work things out on the offensive end. This should lead to the Raiders running the ball a healthy amount.

"To set the table for Jeanty, it’s important to contextualize the mountains he’ll have to climb to assert himself as the best first-year RB of all time. The most obvious stat to follow will be rushing yards, and the current record holder is Eric Dickerson at 1,808 in 1983. Only five rookie runners have eclipsed the 1,600-yard threshold, including George Rogers (1981) and Ottis Anderson (1979)," Locker said.

"The 1,000-foot view of Jeanty’s landmarks is that, in PFF history, very few rookie running backs have produced elite first seasons. In fact, only four such players have reached a 90.0 PFF rushing grade (min. 200 snaps) in Year 1, and just five have amassed a 90.0 overall PFF grade."

Locker noted the Raiders' shiny new running back would break PFF records if he continued professionally, what he did collegiately. Jeanty staying on the same trajectory while likely having a relatively high usage rate in his rookie season should lead to a massive change for the Raiders.

"Based on Jeanty’s 2025 season marks — a 94.9 overall PFF grade with the aforementioned 96.6 PFF rushing grade — he’d easily reset both lists if he replicates his performance with Las Vegas in 2025. Another piece of good news is that among the 12 rookie rushers to eclipse an 85.0 overall PFF grade, six have done so since 2017, including [Bucky] Irving and [De'Von] Achane in the past two seasons," Locker said.

"All of the elements discussed seem highly bullish for Jeanty to turn out the best rookie RB season since at least 2006, if not ever. At the same time, the recent track record of highly selected players at the position in their first years isn’t the most promising."

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This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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