Ashton Jeanty (foot) feeling ‘great,’ ready to go

Among the least efficient rushers in the game, Jeanty again struggled to get anything going on the ground behind a middling Vegas offensive line. He did almost all of his damage through the air, turning eight targets into 61 yards and a late score in garbage time. He ran a route on 20 of the team’s 35 drop backs against the Rams and ranked second among Raiders pass catchers in targets. Mike Washington had six carries on the day. Jeanty, with at least six targets in six of his seven games this season, can maintain RB2 status as long as he’s catching passes out of the backfield. He gets the Jets in Week 8.

Dang. This suggests Washington suffered one or both injuries yesterday in practice. He is firmly in the questionable camp and may have only a long shot at suiting up in Week 7 against the Rams. Without him, Ashton Jeanty should handle a solid workload. Dylan Laube could end up serving as the No. 2 running back.

Jeanty, who is dealing with a foot/ankle injury, wasn’t effective on the ground, but that didn’t stop him from scoring his first rushing touchdown of the season. Jeanty punched in a one-yard score in the first quarter of Sunday’s game to give the Raiders an early 7-3 lead, but averaged a disappointing 2.2 YPC overall. He did manage a solid 4-36-0 receiving line on six targets, with two of his four receptions coming on the Raiders’ third drive of the game. Jeanty appeared on 15 more snaps than Mike Washington and out-touched him 14 to 10. While he continues to struggle from an efficiency standpoint, Jeanty’s volume will make him a low-end RB1 next week against the Rams.

The Raiders’ starting running back is good to go for what should be a fantasy-friendly game environment. The Raiders encouragingly stopped listing Jeanty with an ankle injury this week. Hopefully, his remaining plantar fasciitis issue subsides before long as well. Jeanty is a low-end RB1 in Week 6.

Jeanty’s previous ankle designation was removed from the injury report and he was a full practice participant on Wednesday. His practice participation lines up with Raiders coach Klint Kubiak saying the 22-year-old running back was starting to “feel a lot better.” Though there were rumors of the Raiders resting Jeanty for a week, he is trending to play in Week 6 against the Bills.

Kubiak also shot down the idea of the Raiders resting Jeanty for a week, despite it being reported earlier today that the Raiders were considering giving him a week off to recover at some point. Jeanty has been dreadfully inefficient this year, averaging a meager 3.3 yards per carry, though the team’s subpar offensive line also deserves some of the blame. For fantasy purposes, his workload has been the big draw. He is averaging 22 touches per game through five weeks. Even if the foot and ankle injuries continue to bother him, Jeanty has to be treated as a mid-range RB2.

Most of Jeanty’s production against New England came on a 31-yard catch and run in the third quarter. Battling through foot and ankle injuries, Jeanty looked hobbled from the start and struggled to break tackles or outrun Patriots defenders to the edge. Most Raiders starters rested in the fourth quarter of a lopsided loss. Jeanty still doesn’t have a rushing touchdown on the season and hasn’t had 100 rushing yards in a game since Week 1 against the Dolphins. Until Jeanty is fully healthy he probably won’t provide much in the way of upside, including next week against a decent Buffalo run defense.

Jeanty will play through his foot and ankle injuries against New England. It wouldn’t be surprising if he cedes some backfield work to a healthy and much more explosive Mike Washington, however. Jeanty should be considered a top-24 option this week while Washington is a desperation flex. Raiders declared WR Jalen Nailor, QB Aidan O’Connell, S Tristin McCollum, RB Roman Hemby, S Dalton Johnson, OL Trey Zuhn, and DT JJ Pegues inactive against the Patriots.

Per Rapoport, Jeanty had a flare-up of plantar fasciitis last week to go along with his ankle injury. He added that Jeanty will work out before today’s game to see how he’s feeling. If he can’t go, Mike Washington Jr. would see the bulk of the backfield touches. Washington has been an explosive complement to Jeanty this year, averaging five yards per carry on 24 attempts. He would jump to the top of the RB2 ranks if Jeanty can’t go.

Kubiak didn’t get into real specifics about the injury when asked. Mike Washington just found his way into real contingency value and is a worthwhile stash/hedge anywhere he was dropped. Jeanty did not practice Friday after a limited session (and the addition of a foot tag) on Thurdsay, so this certainly doesn’t appear to be heading in the right direction. That said, we knew Jeanty would be managing something after the preseason ankle injury and the Raiders have given out rest days on Friday quite a bit already this year. Jeanty is likely something close to truly questionable.