Is Ashton Jeanty hurt or is he just not an elite running back?
The longer the Raiders’ former first-round pick struggles, that’s the question more and more people are starting to ask, and this week one of the league’s most familiar analysts expressed serious doubts about Jeanty’s potential as an NFL running back.
Greg Cosell is one of the NFL’s more prominent analysts and has spent nearly 50 years breaking down film and sharing his opinions. Cosell had reservations about Jeanty going back to the 2025 draft and reminded an audience this week that he didn’t think Jeanty was an elite prospect coming out of Boise State.
“I was very surprised and watching the tape this week that Dylan Laube ended up getting meaningful snaps ahead of Mike Washington and that was a coach’s decision apparently,” Cosell said on the One Bills Live podcast.
“I’m not there every day so I certainly don’t know what goes on, but I like Mike Washington a lot and I actually think overall he’s a better back than Jeanty, who I liked coming out of college, but I didn’t think Jeanty was a great prospect. I thought he was a solid prospect, and their run game has been absolutely nonexistent.”
It was a strong statement by Cosell on Jeanty, but his “reminder” didn’t necessarily line up with what he was saying 18 months ago.
Cosell was on the Ross Tucker Podcast in March of 2025 and called Jeanty a “really, really good prospect”, adding that it would take 10 minutes to read through all the notes he had on Jeanty.
Cosell said he considered Jeanty and Omarion Hampton the top two running back prospects in the 2025 draft.
If Cosell didn’t think Jeanty was a “great prospect” going into the 2025 draft, he certainly hid it well in that particular pre-draft segment with Tucker.
Raiders still trying to get Jeanty back to full strength
The hope of every Raider fan is that Jeanty’s struggles over the first five weeks of the season have more to do with his health and less to do with his abilities as a running back.
The Raiders’ offensive line hasn’t been good, but there have still been times in the last month when Jeanty had room to run and either didn’t choose the right running lane or failed to make a defender miss.
Jeanty and head coach Klint Kubiak have both acknowledged that Jeanty has been playing through a sore foot and ankle, but nothing about the way the team has deployed him in practices (that we know of) and games would suggest he is dealing with anything significant.
Former Raiders OL also expressed concerns with Jeanty this week…
Richie Incognito talked about Jeanty’s struggles this week on his podcast, and he followed up a few more comments on the Raiders’ flagship radio station at the end of the week.
“The offensive line’s not playing up to the standard… but there are some holes that present themselves and I don’t know if he’s just a little shell shocked from getting tattooed in the backfield, but with this run game, if there are holes, we have to hit them,” Incognito said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick Show.
“I mean, is it a feel thing? Is it an injury? Is it a vision? I just don’t want to see him running straight into defenders. You’ve got to make people miss. I want to see him be a little bit more elusive behind the line of scrimmage. He’s a guy you got to get going and get him to the second level. But with the injury, he just doesn’t look explosive. I want to see Mike Washington.”
x: @raidersbeat
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