The Raiders have received a lot of praise for drafting Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, but an ESPN analyst this week is calling the Jeanty pick one of the mistakes of the Raiders’ offseason.
Seth Walder gave the Raiders a ‘B’ grade for their first offseason under GM John Spytek, and the decision to draft Jeanty was one of two offseason moves in Las Vegas the ESPN columnist didn’t like.
“I… take issue with the drafting on Jeanty at No. 6.,” Walder wrote in an ESPN column on Thursday. “Jeanty is a thrilling player, don’t get me wrong. But it’s bad to take a running back that early considering he’ll only provide surplus value if he is elite because his contract is already expensive compared to the position,” Walder continued.
“The opportunity cost of taking a player at a premium position (it’s much harder to find an elite tackle, wide receiver or edge rusher in free agency) is so high. For a more extensive look at this question, I recommend my colleague Bill Barnwell’s article on the subject from 2023.”
The other offseason decision Walder didn’t like was the signing of former Bengals guard Alex Cappa.
“I was not a fan of paying Alex Cappa $5 million considering he ranked last among 64 guards in pass block win rate last season,” Walder said.
Being that Walder didn’t like the Cappa signing, he would be even more disappointed to learn where Cappa apparently sits on the Raiders’ dept chart.
Former ESPN beat writer Paul Gutierrez, who is now employed by the Raiders, dropped an interesting nugget on Cappa and his presumed role going into the 2025 season.
“I think Kappa all but has the right guard position sewn up,” Gutierrez said on Raider Nation Radio’s Unnecessary Roughness with Q Myers on Wednesday.
There’s a lot of time between now and the start of the season, but it’s interesting that Cappa seems to be in such good standing in Las Vegas less a year removed from arguably the worst season of his NFL career.
In seven NFL seasons, Cappa’s 50.5 Pro Football Focus grade in 2024 was his lowest since his rookie year in Tampa Bay (40.1), where his ties to Spytek began with the Buccaneers.
The Raiders weren’t able to run the ball effectively in 2024, but with the additions of Jeanty and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, there is reason to believe the running game in Las Vegas is going to improve dramatically in 2025.
Jeanty is already being discussed as one of the league’s best running backs and Yahoo/FOX Sports host Jason Fitz believes the former Boise State star is going to take the NFL by storm in his first season.
Fitz believes Kelly and company are planning to run the ball early and often in 2025.
“I will continue to scream that this offense is going to run the football more than Raiders fans want. I’ve watched enough Chip Kelly that I believe that,” Fitz said this week on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
“I genuinely believe this year, Ashton Jeanty is a fantasy football league winner. That’s how many touches I think he’s going to get across the board. I think he has a Christian McCaffrey-like impact to this Raiders office in year one, in year one.”
