The hot takes have been flying about Ashton Jeanty of late. Even before the Raiders‘ game Sunday in Washington, there were criticisms about his NFL abilities. To the point where Ryan Clark claiming after just two games that Ashton Jeanty doesn’t have the IT factor.
First of all, it’s just way too early to make this kind of judgment. But moreso, it shows that Clark and others who would say this either haven’t been watching what’s going on with the Raiders offensive line or don’t understand what they’re watching.
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I am far from the authority on offensive lines. But when a running back is routinely seeing multiple defenders in the backfield, it doesn’t take a great football mind to see that is not right. There are countless examples of Jeanty facing considerable pressure in the Raiders backfield, often times even before he gets the ball in this hands.
But nothing speaks to this fact quite like this one stat:
Rushing yards: 144
Yards after contact 145
As is often said, let that sink in.
What this means is the problem is not with Jeanty. It’s with his blocking. It means he Jeanty gets hit so often in the backfield, that he has more yards after that first contact than he has positive yards. It actually makes the 144 number look that much more impressive. If he were going down as often as he is contacted in the backfield, the two numbers would be even farther apart than just one yard.
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If you are a fantasy football guy, it doesn’t matter why Jeanty is not getting yards. But if you’re the Raiders, it means right now you’re wasting your talent sixth overall pick by giving him terrible blocking every week.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: This unreal Ashton Jeanty rushing stat says more about the Raiders