Everyone knows who will be at the top of the Raiders’ depth chart at running back this year, but there’s still a lot to be sorted out at the position behind Ashton Jeanty.
Raheem Mostert, Zamir White and Sincere McCormick are all in the mix to back up Jeanty this year, and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, one member of that crew has been shining in recent practices.
“I don’t know that anybody had a bigger day to day than Sincere McCormick,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast on Tuesday. “In my opinion… if he continues to perform the way he is now, with pads on, I think he has a very good shot at not only being the solid third guy, I think he’s got a shot to possibly even challenge most… [but] nobody’s challenging Ashton [Jeanty], period.”
“Sincere, today in his past routes, there was one particular move where he just left a defender looking silly. Crisp route running. Now again, no pads,” Hondo continued.
“When he got the chance last year, [Sincere] shined prior to his injury. It has been different this offseason for the first time since he’s been here. He’s popping in the offseason… He popped today. He ran like he was angry… angry at the defense, angry at the football, angry at the world.”
Prior to the ankle injury that ended his season in December, McCormick ran for 183 yards on 38 carries (4.7 yards per carry) and looked more explosive than any other runners on the 2024 roster.
There’s a lot of time between now and the start of the season, but it sounds like McCormick is back to 100 percent and already a strong candidate to be Jeanty’s primary backup in Chip Kelly’s offense.
Fantasy footballers take note.
