Raiders Should Take it Easy With Ashton Jeanty

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Raiders Should Take it Easy With Ashton Jeanty

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Tyler Bischoff | Last updated Aug 25, 2026 11:24 AM ET

Ashton Jeanty left practice on Sunday due to an injury. But the injury is not expected to be long-term, allowing Jeanty to play this season. But the Raiders should not be rushing Jeanty back.

With the Raiders at the start of a rebuild, 2026 is not important; Jeanty’s availability and production for 2027 and beyond is.

Las Vegas is expecting Jeanty to be a building block for the franchise. He needs to be a star and lead one of the league’s best rushing attacks. Eventually.

If you try to envision how the Raiders build a great offense, it includes Fernando Mendoza taking over at quarterback with Jeanty and Brock Bowers as the top two weapons. But Las Vegas also needs to use the draft and free agency to add a couple of offensive linemen and a better No. 1 wide receiver.

If all goes well, Klint Kubiak could have the Raiders’ offense flying in 2027.

Keeping an eye on 2027 is what the Raiders need to do with Jeanty. Any setback this season or a more severe injury that lingers into the 2027 offseason or worse, the 2027 season, will hinder the Raiders timeline.

Jeanty shouldn’t see the field until he is 100 percent recovered. Even then, Mike Washington should ease the workload by taking on a decent amount of touches each game.

The mistake of drafting Jeanty

General manager John Spytek elected to pick Ashton Jeanty at sixth overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Despite the Raiders having a deeply flawed roster, Spytek still chose a luxury pick.

Jeanty’s rookie season proved how the Raiders mismanaged their draft assets. Despite playing in all 17 games and getting the seventh most carries in the NFL, Jeanty failed to top 1,000 rushing yards. There were 11 different players to receive fewer carries and run for more yards.

The struggle can be attributed largely to the rest of the roster. The Raiders offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL, leading Jeanty to an atrocious 3.7 yards per carry.

There was virtually no team success, as the Raiders won three games. Las Vegas saw first hand how little a running back matters if the rest of the team isn’t complete. Even today, the Raiders still have multiple holes on the offensive line and at receiver — and that is just the offense.

With the Raiders projected to finish at the bottom of the AFC West again, Jeanty’s second season will almost certainly be wasted on another bad team. That is problematic at the running back position.

Running backs tend to peak earlier than most positions in the NFL. As soon as a back is drafted, they are in their prime years for production. Drafting a running back in the first round and immediately having two awful seasons is a terrible use of draft assets.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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