Jeanty Listed As Limited As Raiders Try To Revive Running Game

The Las Vegas Raiders are trying to revive their running game, but they got what could be a significant setback in doing that with multiple reports listing running back Ashton Jeanty as limited in practice on Thursday due to an ankle injury.

Jeanty is the Raider bell cow back, and he started out like he was ready to justify it after struggling last year when the Raiders made him the No. 6 pick in the 2025 draft. The Raiders revamped their offensive line under new coach Klint Kubiak, and Jeany had an excellent game, running for 102 yards on 23 carries. 

Since then things have gone sideways. Jeanty has been held to under 60 yards in each of the Raiders last three games, and no one seems to know what the solution is given his Week 1 success. 

There’s lots of self-blaming happening, though. Jeanty says it’s all about him, and he simply needs to break tackles and do better. Kubiak says the same thing about himself, as he pointed to some blocking schemes that have failed. New center Tyler Linderbaum was more collective, saying that it was about the offensive line group he was brought in to make more cohesive. 

The numbers are just numbers, so they don’t particularly care who’s producing the problems. The story they tell is about Las Vegas being 30th in yards before first contact per attempt at 1.34, and the Raiders also have the most carries for zero or negative yards at 29.

The other possibility here is the one the Raiders don’t want to talk about, which is that they may have maxed out the talent they have on hand. Linderbaum has been a huge addition, and he’s helped make Las Vegas more competitive, but the rest of the line is full of players who are starting to do exactly what the did last year, which is fail badly. 

Kubiak will change some things schematically, and some of that will depend on Jeanty’s health. Rookie running back Mike Washington Jr. is showing himself to be a capable second option, but the Raiders don’t want to put too much on his plate at this point in the season.

The bottom line is that we’re in the process of finding out who the Raiders are after their surprising 3-0 start. They were shockingly competitive against the Kansas City Chiefs, but they’ll need a better running game to beat the New England Patriots on the road this week.