Growing pains from young NFL players are expected.
And the painful lessons the Las Vegas Raiders rookies experience should be of no surprise. Adapting to the complexity, physicality, and speed of the pro game coming from the collegiate landscape takes time. The acclimation period can be quicker or longer by the prospect, as are the frequency of initial struggles.
But they’re ideal for the Silver & Black — for both player and organization.
For the player, experience is vital. Live snaps — even with mistakes
— are invaluable opportunities where teach tape is compiled. Trial by fire can be frowned upon especially if a draft pick struggles mightily, but live action cannot be replicated by practice, scout team, or even film study. The ability to play against NFL speed, power, and physicality, learn from mistakes and successes, and grow is what player development is all about.
For the organization — particularly the player personnel department — cataloging the development or lack thereof allows the group to plan further roster building. Either the GM and their scouts don’t need to worry about a particular position group or they need to drill deep to bolster areas of opportunity. Still, relying on rookies to grow is a foundation to building a core for any team.
From sixth overall pick Ashton Jeanty down to 22nd overall pick Cody Lindenberg, the nine rookies of of the 2025 draft class on the 53-man roster have either been regulars or finally being phases into action.
By The Numbers
Raiders Rookie 2025 Snap Counts
- No. 6 RB Ashton Jeanty: 613 offense; 2 special teams
- No. 58 WR Jack Bech: 268 offense; 119 special teams
- No. 68 CB Darien Porter: 430 defense; 143 special teams
- No. 98 OL Caleb Rogers: 109 offense
- No. 99 OL Charles Grant: 6 offense; 7 special teams
- No. 108 WR Dont’e Thornton Jr.: 341 offense
- No. 135 DT Tonka Hemingway: 119 defense; 26 special teams
- No. 180 DT JJ Pegues: 79 defense; 17 special teams
- No. 222 LB Cody Lindenberg: 288 special teams
Arguably, no Raiders rookie has gone through growing pains like Jeanty. The Boise State running back leads the draft class in total snaps as a 14-game starter for the 2-12 Silver & Black. The 22-year-old tailback has 700 yards and four touchdowns on 200 carries and 266 yards and four more end zone visits on 49 receptions. Although, the talented runner hasn’t’ broken the 50-yard rushing mark the last three games with 31, 30, 35 as his rushing totals.
The naked eye can see that Jeanty doesn’t have much room to operate due to the Raiders offensive line. He’s swarmed by defenders either at or behind the line of scrimmage. But there are plays that could’ve been made, too.
“Yeah, I think, I mean, just for me personally, I’ve missed some plays and just growing pains of being a rookie, getting used to the game speed and all that type of stuff,” Jeanty explained during his media availability on Wednesday. “But I don’t really even look at it that way. There might be more space one play, there might be less space. And did you take advantage of the opportunity?”
Continued opportunities for Jeanty and his draft classmates are important as Las Vegas enters its final three-game stretch to close a downtrodden 2025 campaign. For Darien Porter, a tall and long corner expected to be able to smother and cover receivers, getting beat by a veteran Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers was baptism by fire.
Ditto for offensive guard Caleb Rogers. Going head-to-head with a ferocious Eagles front four and other defenders is instrumental to development.
And another tough test awaits the Raiders and the rookies this Sunday at the Houston Texans that boast the NFL’s top defensive unit in points and yards allowed.
The growing pains shouldn’t dishearten Raider Nation. That’s a vital and challenging part of being an NFL neophyte. What will be disappointing though, is if head coach Pete Carroll and his coaching staff don’t give the rookies more snaps in the final stretch.
Quotes of Note
“The way I see the makeup of their team, they structured their acquisitions really towards putting together a defense that could really go, and that’s what jumps out at you about their team. They’re a good, solid offense, but they play to their defense. They’ve only turned the ball over 10 times in the season on offense, which is an incredibly good stat there, plus-14. So, to me, that’s playing to the strength of their defense. It’s not to take anything away from their big guys up front, running the football, because they’re huge up front on offense, but I see that that’s the makeup of this team. They’re very solid on special teams. They don’t make errors. They’re not turning the football over, and they’re playing great defense. That’s enough to win a ton of games.”
—Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll on what stands out about what Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans has done on the turnaround of the Texans
“Yeah, I mean losing, I never expect to lose anything. So, anytime you lose and lose this many games, it’s surprising to me. But just being here for one year, you can kind of feel, I would say, the anxiety of the entire organization, the fan base, everybody wants to win, and everybody’s like really urgent. So that’s what we’re pressing towards, is everyone being urgent and getting this thing turned around, and nothing happens in one day, one year. We would have loved to win the Super Bowl this year, that’s not our reality right now. The reality is we’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to focus on getting better day to day, and anything else outside of that really is nonsense.”
—Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith when asked what’s surprised him this season.
