HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Raiders got to see what life was like last season without Josh Jacobs — and it wasn't pleasant.
Las Vegas took a big step toward addressing the league's worst rushing offense by selecting Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick in Thursday night's NFL draft.
Jeanty was the runner-up to Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter for the Heisman Trophy after leading the nation with 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns rushing.
“It’s one of those deals where it meets the need and the best player being together,” Raiders general manager John Spytek said. “I feel like that’s the perfect storm. It’s just too much to ignore at that point.”
Las Vegas averaged just 79.8 yards rushing per game last season after letting Jacobs leave in free agency for Green Bay, where he ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns. While playing for the Raiders in 2022, Jacobs led the league with 1,653 yards on the ground.
Jeanty is the highest-drafted player ever out of Boise State. He also is the highest-drafted running back since Penn State's Saquon Barkley went second in 2018 to the New York Giants.
Barkley led the league with 2,005 yards rushing this past season with Philadelphia. That ignited the conversation on whether the once highly-valued running backs position was experiencing a renaissance as the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
Now Jeanty has the chance to show that the Raiders were correct in making running back such a high priority. He is the second highest-drafted back in franchise history, behind Darren McFadden (4th in 2008), and just the fifth selected by the team in the first round since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity," said Jeanty, whose football roots date to a Navy base in Italy. "I want to show everybody that the position is valuable when you take an exceptional running back in the first round."
Jeanty is the gem of a deep running backs class, and the Raiders could have passed on him with the idea of drafting another player at his position later while addressing a different need with such a high selection. The Los Angeles Chargers selected North Carolina's Omarion Hampton with the 22nd pick, the only other running back to go in the first round.
Jeanty also could be a generational player the Raiders found too difficult to pass up.
“It's something we obviously considered," Spytek said of drafting another position. “You have to consider when it's that a deep class of running backs, but we felt he's that good of a person and that good of a player where it warranted the pick. There's also no guarantees that if we pass on Ashton that any of those guys you really like in the next rung are going to be there.”
He could remind Raiders coach Pete Carroll of Marshawn Lynch, whom he coached in Seattle. Jeanty often went with his own version of “Beast Mode” at Boise State and was the only player, according to Pro Football Focus, to rush for more than 1,000 yards last season on plays that included a broken tackle.
“Marshawn's one of those backs I've looked up to,” Jeanty said. “Breaking tackles and making plays down the field, there are some similarities.”
Carroll said Lynch called to say he was thrilled with the pick.
“There is similarity in his ability to make plays when it doesn't look like there's anything there,” Carroll said. “Marshawn did that throughout his career. He found a physical way to bank off people and bounce and keep alive, and Ashton is really a player who shows that kind of style. There's a special makeup in there with Ashton.”
Carroll has emphasized since his introductory news conference in January about the importance of competing, and he had a basketball shooting competition when Jeanty visited the Raiders facility. A competition that Jeanty won.
“I think that sealed the deal,” he said.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Mark Anderson, The Associated Press
