The Raiders made running back Ashton Jeanty the first draft pick of their new era, selecting him at No. 6 overall.
Making his debut against the Patriots on Sunday, Jeanty noted in a recent interview with GQ just how much he realizes Las Vegas is going to lean on him offensively.
“They let me know every single day that I’m the guy,” Jeanty told GQ’s Adam Caparell. “They’re counting on me to do some special things in this offense.”
Part of that has to do with his bruising running style.
“I don’t really shy away from contact, and once I make my read, I get north and south quickly. If you’re in the way, that’s your fault,” Jeanty said. “Everybody doesn’t like that. I don’t know why I like it. Maybe I’m a little bit psychotic.”
But Jeanty is also getting into the league at a time when elite running backs have caused a bit of a revival of the position — like Saquon Barkley, who helped power the Eagles to a victory in Super Bowl LIX.
“Saquon’s done a great job at putting great things on display for the running back position and showing our value to the team by winning the biggest game possible,” Jeanty said. “Not only that, there’s so many other great guys [at the position] like Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs. Me getting drafted as high as I did showed the value is coming back.”
We’ll see how Jeanty fits into that group starting on Sunday against New England.
