Less than a week away from the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Ashton Jeanty continues to double down on himself and his talent. The Boise State running back put up some of the craziest stats ever and looks like one of the best running backs in recent memory.
In 14 games across the regular season and postseason, Jeanty rushed for 2,595 yards, 1,970 of which came after contact, and 29 touchdowns! Jeanty averaged 6.9 yards per carry and forced 152 missed tackles, almost 11 per game.
To put Jeanty’s numbers into perspective, Derrick Henry’s final year at Alabama in 15 games rushed for 2,225 yards, 1,339 after contact, on 5.6 yards per carry, 28 touchdowns, and 76 missed tackles. Jeanty literally had a more productive final season than Henry in one fewer game!
Ashton Jeanty Has High Goals For The 2025 Season
Jeanty talked in a recent interview with RG and was asked if he wants to rush for 2,000 yards in the NFL to match his college numbers. He said, “Oh, yeah, most definitely. There are only nine guys to rush for 2,000 yards in the NFL. Hopefully, nobody else does it again before I do it the 10th time.”
Jeanty figures to be a top 10 pick, the latest since Bijan Robinson at number eight in 2023, and could be the highest running back picked since Saquon Barkley was picked second in 2018. In the latest Pro Football Network mock draft, Jeanty went sixth overall to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The aforementioned Henry and Barkley are the two latest running backs to have 2,000-yard seasons, Barkley most recently in 2024, Henry in 2020. Before those two, the last 2,000-yard rusher was Adrian Peterson back in 2012.
Eric Dickerson holds the rushing record by a rookie with the 1,808 yards he ran for way back in 1983. Dickerson started 16 games that season and carried the ball a league-leading 390 times for an also league-leading 1,808 yards plus 18 touchdowns. If Jeanty can replicate those numbers or exceed them, he’ll run away with Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, pun intended.
In a recent interview with RG, Jeanty listed some of his goals, which included “Rush for 1,000-plus rushing yards, go to the playoffs,” and “Hopefully I’m on a good enough team to get a shot at the Super Bowl. I think every rookie is going after the Rookie of the Year award.”
The Raiders would be a good fit for Jeanty, as the Raiders had a lot of mouths to feed in their backfield, but not in a good way. The Raiders had several players who were better suited as backups or third-string running backs.
Alexander Mattison led the team with 420 rushing yards, 31-year-old Ameer Abdullah rushed for 311 yards, and Zamir White and Sincere McCormick both rushed for 183 yards. None of the four started more than half the season. The Raiders could desperately use some consistency and a true workhorse running back.
If Jeanty can manage to reach his very lofty goals, whether with the Raiders or with another team that picks top 10 and could use a running back, the Patriots, or the Jaguars, perhaps, he’ll for sure be considered among the best running back prospects ever.
