Pete Carroll wants it. Geno Smith does to.
And Ashton Jeanty is ready for the responsibility.
That’s the Las Vegas Raiders head coach, quarterback, and running back in unison: Get the run game going and feed their prized rookie running back.
It’s very easy to see why Carroll, Smith, and even Jeanty want to see an uptick in involvement. Through two games, Jeanty garnered 30 totes for 81 yards and one touchdown — including an abysmal 2.7 yards per carry average. Those are numbers fare below what the sixth
overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft should have.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t think you draft a guy like me to not give me carries and touches and I’m ready for the responsibility,” Jeanty reasonably said when asked if he’s ready for to take on a heavy workload forward. “And like I said, it’s going to start with me in the run game, and I’ve got to continue to get better.”
Overall, the Raiders offense boasts the fifth-least carries in the entire league with 43 and the second-least yards gained at 124 yards total. In those two categories, the Miami Dolphins had an NFL-least 27 carries, however, the 25 totes the team churned out in the Thursday Night loss boosts them leaving the Cincinnati Bengals the low team on the totem pole with 40 carries. In terms of yards gained, only the Bengals are worse than the Raiders with 94 total.
The Raiders boasted the dead-last ranked rushing offense in 2024 (380 carries, league-low 1,357 yards, 10 touchdowns, and a pathetic 3.6 yards per carry average. Through two games, it sure looks like it’s a repeat campaign — potentially worse at the 2.9 yards per carry average — until Las Vegas proves it can improve.
Time and time again, Jeanty is met at the line of scrimmage by defenders and is either stuffed or, when he tries to make defenders miss, gets some traction before getting tackled short. There are times where Jeanty showcases the burst by hitting the hole and gaining yards and when he puts a shoulder into a defender to truck them. But between Jeanty and backup Zamir White, Raiders running backs are non factors.
Yet, with its Week 3 matchup against the Washington Commanders, the Silver & Black are given an opportunity to remedy a rancid run game.
Unlike the Raiders matchups with the New England Patriots in Week 1 and the Chargers in Week 2 — both those tams are ranked third and eighth in rushing yards allowed this season — the Commanders boast a middling run defense at 14th in yards allowed at 209. Washington is allowing a 3.9 yards per carry average. Those are all yields with teams running the ball 53 times through two games.
Washington does boast serious talent on defense as Joe Whitt’s aggressive, man coverage-leaning unit is paced by super veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner (team-leading 21 total tackles along with a stop for loss) and defensive end Dorance Armstrong Jr. (10 total tackles, two stops for loss) and Javon Kinlaw (two stops for loss).
But the Commanders are ripe for the picking and if there’s a squad the Raiders should increase Jeanty’s participation rate, it’s this Sunday morning matchup in Washington.
Smith, who leads the league with four interceptions and has the seventh most passing attempts at 778, readily admits balance makes the Raiders offensive attack that much more dangerous and efficient.
“Yeah, I mean, the more we can get touches to our backs, to Ashton, to Zamir, the better we’re going to be as an offense. Those guys are our playmakers; they do well in space,” Smith explained. “As you can see, Ashton is out there running guys over. He’s bouncing off the tackles, and so is Zamir. And so, yeah, we have to remain balanced. We have to get those guys the ball in space, whether that’s in the run game or the passing game, and that’s something that we’re working on. Again, man, it’s early. Don’t want to overreact to anything. There’s a long season ahead of us. But yeah, we got to get the balance going.”
Just how many more carries Jeanty gets is up in the air, however.
During his media session on Thursday, Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly spoke about how neither of his to tailbacks at Ohio State — Judkins and Treveyon Henderson (New England Patriots, eight carries for 37 yards) — were not 20-carry types but still had over 1,000 yards rushing in the Buckeyes national championship winning year in 2024.
Kelly even brought in the NBA’s load management style.
“In basketball, it’s called ‘Load management.’ We’re not sitting out games here, but I think you have to be conscious of over the course of 17 games, if some guy’s carrying the ball 30 times a game, they only have so many carries in a season,” Kelly explained. “And I mean, if you’re going to waste them – not waste them, but if you’re using them early, then it’s going to hurt you late. So, there tries to be a balance. And when you have depth, you have balance. There’s some teams that don’t have depth. So, this guy’s the guy, because there’s a huge drop off. When you have some depth, it’s beneficial to make sure. Because even in games where you’re not getting 60 snaps, you’re getting 70 snaps and 80 snaps. Well, if you didn’t take them out in the first and second quarter, by the time you get to the fourth quarter, he’s dead, you know?”
That’s all well and good, but White has five carries for six yards (a comical 1.2 yards per carry average) spelling Jeanty. And reserve running back and special teamer Dylan Laube has no carries and two catches for 17 yards.
Around The League
Jeanty isn’t alone in rookie-year struggles. The much-ballyhooed 2025 tailback draft class hasn’t lived up to lofty expectations overall. We saw the Raiders wall up and stymie Los Angeles Chargers’ rookie Omarion Hampton this past week (eight carries for 24 yards). The Cleveland Browns’ Quinshon Judkins churned out 61 yards on 10 carries in the team’s 41-17 shellacking from the Baltimore Ravens. And the Denver Broncos’ RJ Harvey galloped for 70 yards on six carries in the season opener only to get stonewalled by the Indianapolis Colts this past weekend (five carries for eight yards), to name a few.
“The numbers haven’t been as good as we want so far in the first two games. I happened to look at an accounting of the ball carriers throughout the league in this past weekend, and there were a lot of guys that ran the ball, 11, 12, 13 times, that were lead runners,” Carroll said during his media availability on Wednesday. “It surprised me that there were numbers like that. There were some guys, the Colts, the guy ran 22, 23 times, or something like that. But there were a lot of guys that aren’t running the ball that much. And so I’m kind of surprised at that. I felt like we might be a little more out of line than that, so we’ll see. But we want more of him (Ashton Jeanty). He ran very well when he had the ball, and so we just needed to get more snaps.”
