It's game week for the Raiders. The first one they've had since January. The first sign of it came on Tuesday with the release of the first unofficial depth chart of the season. On it, one of the observations I had was that there was no slot receiver listed. In lieu of a slot receiver, the team had fullback Connor Heyward.
What that signals is the Raiders are fully committed on leaning on the run game this season.
This development comes on the heels of a season in which sixth overall pick Ashton Jeanty was terrorized each week by opposing defenses because the Raiders offensive line was so utterly terrible, he got less than no room to run. Much of that had to do with poor coaching leading to confusion along the line.
And, mind you, Jeanty was known
in college at Boise State for being able to create yards where there didn't seem to be any. Whether that was making guys miss or just plain running through them.
The new coaching staff led by new head coach Klint Kubiak has apparently been quite impressed by Jeanty thus far, and are expecting big things on the ground according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
Running back Ashton Jeanty had blown away Raiders brass before his ankle sprain, so there’s real optimism that he’ll have a terrific season — an element that’ll be aided by a better-coached offensive line. New head coach Klint Kubiak knows he’ll need to rely on his best skill players, Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers, because they have a thin receiver group. Rookie running back Mike Washington has also impressed enough to earn a real role, to the point where the Raiders could comfortably lean on him if needed.
Jeanty's status for the season opener is still unknown. He went down with his ankle sprain on August 23 which put him exactly three weeks away from the start of the season.
But even before he was injured, this year's rookie RB Mike Washington Jr was putting up performances in the preseason that were easing the minds of the coaches should Jeanty not be ready come the season.
Washington led the NFL averaging 7.3 yards per carry (10+ carries), finishing with 168 yards on 23 carries.
His performance had Kubiak going from talking like Jeanty was going to see a Christian McCaffrey type of workload to more of a shared backfield like he had in Seattle. No doubt Jeanty would still get the bulk of the carries, but it would be mismanagement not to utilize Washington to keep him fresh.
Add the expected improvements on the offensive line along with fullback Connor Heyward to lead the way and the Raiders have plenty to feel confident about with regard to their ground game this season.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders feeling confident about ground game heading into 2026
