By Adam
Twenty-two carries. That was Raheem Mostert's entire 2025 season as Ashton Jeanty's backup, because there was no backfield behind Jeanty, only a depth chart. Jeanty took 86.6 percent of the running back carries in Las Vegas last year. He was second in the NFL in carry share and fifth in snap share among running backs. He was on the field for everything, and it produced 975 rushing yards on 3.7 per carry.
Now watch what happened on the Raiders' third possession against Arizona this preseason. Rookie Mike Washington Jr. took a handoff, stayed square to the line, followed his blocks, and ran 53 yards. Six carries, 63 yards, and a 22-yard kick return in his NFL debut.
Two games into the preseason, Washington has 15 carries for 119 yards. That's 7.9 a pop.
Last year wasn't a talent problem
Start with the part everyone skipped past when they called Jeanty's rookie season a bust. The Raiders allowed more sacks than any offensive line in football in 2025 and couldn't create rushing lanes for a back taken sixth overall. Left tackle Kolton Miller played four games. The offense changed coordinators mid-season. Jeanty still led all rookies in rushing yards, with 975 on the ground and 1,321 from scrimmage.
That's not a running back who forgot how to run. That's a running back who spent a season getting hit two yards deep.
What actually changed
Klint Kubiak is the head coach now, and he brought Rick Dennison with him from Seattle to run the offensive line. Both are installing an outside-zone scheme, the kind that asks linemen to reach-block in sync and climb to the second level rather than maul people at the point of attack.
Las Vegas then spent to fit it. Center Tyler Linderbaum came from Baltimore on a deal that made him the highest-paid interior lineman in NFL history, and Spencer Burford and Trey Zuhn III were added around him. The projected starting five reads Miller, Burford, Linderbaum, Jackson Powers-Johnson, DJ Glaze, and it's been the first-team group all camp.
The early camp reporting has been encouraging on the fit specifically. Gaps were forming organically in the run game, with Jeanty showing patience and waiting for them rather than forcing it. That's the whole point of the scheme, and it's the opposite of what he was asked to do in 2025.
Washington isn't a body. He's a specific kind of problem for defenses.
The Raiders traded up in the fourth round to take him at No. 122, and the profile explains why.
Washington ran a 4.33 forty at 6-foot-1 and 223 pounds — the fastest 40 and the fastest 10-yard split of any running back at the Combine. His one season at Arkansas produced 1,070 yards on 167 carries at 6.4 per attempt, second in the SEC and ninth nationally, plus eight touchdowns and second-team All-SEC honors. He forced 34 missed tackles and averaged 3.9 yards after contact per carry. Nearly half his rushing yardage came on runs of 15-plus yards, a breakaway rate that ranked seventh among draft-eligible backs.
Take the caveats seriously, though. He fumbled three times in 2025. His career 4.2 yards per target was the worst mark in this rookie running back class, and the coaching staff has been open about wanting to see growth in pass protection and as a receiver before handing him a defined role.
So this isn't a back who threatens Jeanty on third down. It's a back who threatens him on first and second, in a scheme built for one-cut runners with a second gear.
The Kubiak precedent is the real argument
Here's the part that should interest anyone drafting this week.
Kubiak called plays for a Super Bowl-winning Seattle offense last season, and that offense split the backfield. Kenneth Walker III took 221 regular-season carries. Zach Charbonnet took 184. That's not a starter and a handcuff. That's a rotation.
Jeanty has said the right things about it, telling reporters he believes Washington can help the team win games and that there's no drop-off when the rookie comes in. Kubiak gave Washington first-team snaps on the opening day of training camp.
That said, the reporting hasn't been uniform. Some of it around OTAs suggested Jeanty wasn't headed for a major carry split despite Kubiak's history, and Kubiak has publicly expected heavy volume from his second-year back. Treat the 50-50 committee as a projection, not a plan anyone has confirmed.
Then Sunday happened
Jeanty went down at practice on August 23 reaching for a low pass in the flat. He couldn't put weight on his right leg walking off. His teammates took a knee.
Reports since have described it as an ankle sprain, with NFL Media reporting the Raiders believe it's more low than high and that they're unsure whether he'll be ready for Week 1 against Miami on September 13. Kubiak declined to give any detail on Tuesday beyond saying Jeanty is on the mend. Washington has taken the majority of first-team reps in the meantime.
None of that is a diagnosis, and nobody outside the building has one. But the range of outcomes is now wide enough to matter to your draft.
The fantasy read
Jeanty is still the back to own, and his price is more reasonable than it's been all summer. A 3.7-yard rookie season behind the league's worst pass-protecting line, followed by a nine-figure offensive line rebuild and a scheme that actually fits him, is the profile of a bounce-back, not a fade. Don't move him down your board over an ankle that may cost him one game.
Washington is the most valuable handcuff in fantasy football right now, and he isn't only a handcuff. He's the clear RB2 on the depth chart with Mostert and Zamir White gone and Dylan Laube and Roman Hemby offering nothing behind him. He'd be the lead back if Jeanty misses time. And in the outcome nobody's pricing, where Jeanty is fine and Kubiak runs the split he ran in Seattle, Washington is a flex play with 8-to-10 touches and breakaway speed on a third of them.
If you draft Jeanty, do not leave the room without Washington. That pairing costs you a mid-round pick and a late one, and it buys you the entire Raiders rushing attack in an offense that should score more than last year's 3-14 version.
The two-headed monster isn't confirmed. But Las Vegas traded up to draft a 4.33 running back for a coach who has already shown he'll use two, and the one ahead of him is currently in a walking boot's worth of uncertainty. That's enough.