The Las Vegas Raiders made one of the least surprising draft picks of the first round by selecting former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. After the team traded for quarterback Geno Smith, almost every mock draft projected Jeanty to end up in Las Vegas.
There was late reporting that the Raiders would actually take an offensive lineman, even if Jeanty was on the board, but that turned out to be a smokescreen. Head coach Pete Carroll wants to run the ball, but the Raiders had the worst run game in the NFL last season.
The best running back Carroll had at the NFL level was Marshawn Lynch, who also played for the Raiders. According to Carroll, Lynch was pounding the table for Jeanty, and wouldn’t stop calling the coach after the Raiders made the pick.
“No one loves the running game like he does,” Carroll said. “Guys that have style are really special to Marshawn. There are similarities in his ability to make plays when it doesn’t look like there is anything there. Marshawn found a physical way to bank off people and bounce and keep the play alive, and Ashton is a player that shows that kind of style. There is a special makeup in there.”
Jeanty is a big fan of Lynch and sees similarities in their games.
“Yeah, I mean even growing up, Marshawn was one of the first backs I started watching and looking up to,” Jeanty told reporters. “So, definitely just breaking tackles and making crazy plays down the field. There’s a lot of similarities there.”
John Spytek Explains Why Raiders Drafted Jeanty
It’s not often that a running back is selected in the top six picks. New general manager John Spytek certainly took a risk with his first-ever draft pick.
However, he seems very confident that the Raiders took the right player.
“Jeanty’s film stands for itself,” Spytek said. “The kind of person he is stands for itself. It’s something we obviously considered, I mean, you have to consider it when there is a deep class of running backs, but we just felt that he is that good of a person and that good of a player where it warranted the pick.
“And there’s also no guarantees that if you pass on Ashton there that any of those guys that you really like in the next round are going to be there, too. … We saw the Chargers take (Omarion) Hampton, there’s another good running back, so there are no certainties to it. It was all about Ashton for us.”
Spytek Talks Raiders Offense
The Raiders’ offense now has a chance to be significantly better than it was last season. They already had some strong pieces like tight end Brock Bowers, but they added a capable quarterback in Geno Smit,h and now Jeanty is in the fold.
“Brock obviously had a fantastic rookie season, and Jakobi Meyers is a great slot player for us and now we add another dynamic weapon in Ashton, and we like our offensive line and how it’s coming together and we have a quarterback (in Geno Smith) that can lead and throw the ball to all levels of the field,” Spytek said.
