The Las Vegas Raiders see a star in rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, but offensive coordinator Chip Kelly wants to see the Boise State standout shine with some changes to his game, which he depicted to the running back by having him act as an on-ball defender in basketball.
“Sometimes you have to, you know, go with the flow. Chip Kelly, he comes up to me on the first day of minicamp, and he’s like ‘You ever play basketball?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I play basketball. You know, I can dunk and all that.’ He’s like, ‘OK, show me how you would guard me,’ and he’s acting like he’s holding the ball. … ‘that’s exactly why you have to be down in your running back stance,” Jeanty told Up & Adams about what Kelly told him.
In the past, Jeanty had stood up straight when lined up in the backfield before the ball was snapped. Jeanty deemed it the “Halloween” stance because people repeatedly said that he looks like the character “Michael Myers” – who murders multiple people in the slasher horror series – in the backfield. For what it’s worth, Detroit Lions running back and two-time Pro Bowler Jahmyr Gibbs has a similar stance where he’s primarily standing straight up when lined up in the backfield.
Jeanty added that Kelly had “won, for now” and that he was “going to try and persuade him one day” but also that he has “to earn” his “stripes” in the NFL first — all with a smile on his face.
“I don’t think it’s going to be the end [of the stance],” Jeanty said.
Jeanty, a two-time Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year and a one-time All-American, had an otherworldly junior season at Boise State, which went 12-2 and reached the College Football Playoff quarterfinal round. Rushing for a college football-best 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns — which led all running backs — Jeanty was the runner-up to Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter for the 2024 Heisman Trophy Award.
Jeanty joins a Raiders team that was last in the NFL in rushing last season (79.8 rushing yards per game). They also added 2023 Pro Bowler Raheem Mostert, who led the NFL with 18 rushing touchdowns in said season, and still have running back Zamir White, who flashed some promise down the stretch of the 2023 season (451 rushing yards on 4.3 yards per carry).
As for the rest of its 2025 draft class, Las Vegas selected TCU wide receiver Jack Bech (pick No. 58), Iowa State cornerback Darien Porter (pick No. 68) and offensive linemen Caleb Rogers (pick No. 98) and Charles Grant (pick No. 99), among other players.
The Raiders are entering their first season with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek as their general manager and former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll as their head coach. Meanwhile, Kelly — who was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles (2013-15) and San Francisco 49ers (2016) — comes to the Raiders after helping Ohio State win the College Football Playoff National Championship as its offensive coordinator last season.
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Ashton Jeanty
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