Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll says rookie running back Ashton Jeanty is still finding his footing.
The 2024 Heisman Trophy runner-up and sixth overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft has struggled to get going in the first two games of his pro career. Jeanty had 11 carries for 43 yards in the Raiders’ 20-9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers Monday night, and has just 81 yards on 30 carries in 2 games.
“We’re just getting started,” said Carroll. “He’s breaking into the NFL. He’s figuring it out. He had 11 or something carries tonight. Is that what he had, 11? Yeah, he‘ll get more. That’ll come.”
Carroll said the team would have to do better at running the football as a team. The Raiders had a total of 68 rushing yards against L.A. on Monday. Jeanty was the leading rusher, followed by quarterback Geno Smith, who had five carries for 20 yards. Wide receiver Tre Tucker had a 7-yard carry, and running back Zamir White had two rushes for -2 yards.
“He ran the ball well,” Carroll said. “I thought he hit stuff well. He went the wrong way on a play, so that was unfortunate and messes up the whole play. Geno goes this way, he goes that way.”
With just over 7 minutes to play in the first quarter, Smith handed the ball off to Jeanty. Jeanty bounced to his right but stepped back left to take the handoff. But the play was blown up in the backfield, and Jeanty ran into tight end Michael Mayer, who himself had been knocked back by a Chargers defender.
However, Jeanty did flash some of the tackle-breaking ability that was a hallmark of his time in college at Boise State. On his first carry, he ran through a crease and slammed into Chargers safety Alohi Gilman, but knocked Gilman over and ran for a first down. In the second quarter, he took a swing pass from Smith and spun out of a tackle from safety Derwin James Jr. for a short gain.
Later, he charged through a tackle from defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe, then another from safety Tony Jefferson, on his way to another first down. In the third quarter, he broke down linebacker Daiyan Henley and bounced outside of Jefferson for another medium gain.
“He’s still getting it,” said Carroll. “We[’ve] got a ways to go here, and I have no problem telling you that he’s going to get better and get more comfortable. He felt more comfortable in this game. He looked good running the football, and we need to just get to him more, just to get another eight or nine snaps to him and get around 20 [carries] and that'd be really nice.”
Jeanty posted a stellar campaign at Boise State in 2022, rushing for 2,601 yards—the second-most rushing yards in a single season in FBS history. His historic campaign made him the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy; he won the Maxwell Award, Doak Walker Award, Bobby Bowden trophy, Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, and Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year; to go with a unanimous all-American selection and a First Team All-Mountain West nod.
But questions about whether Jeanty’s success was due to poor competition or his own ability cropped up at the end of the season and into the pre-draft process, especially after Penn State held him to a season-low 104 yards on 30 carries and no scores in their 31-14 victory over Boise State in the College Football Playoffs.
Statistically, Jeanty has struggled to get off the ground through the first couple of weeks. He had just 38 yards on 19 carries in Week 1 against the New England Patriots, though he did score his first NFL touchdown.
