In perhaps the most obvious fit in this class, Ashton Jeanty was selected at No. 6 by the Raiders.
Let's examine Jeanty's 2025 fantasy football outlook and Dynasty value.
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Ashton Jeanty 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook
As a 19-year-old freshman in 2022, Jeanty posted 976 total yards and 7 touchdowns on 170 touches.
He leaped forward after that, producing 1,916 total yards and 19 touchdowns on 263 touches in 2023 before flirting with all-time production this past season, exploding for 2,739 total yards and 30 touchdowns on 397 touches.
He rushed for over 100 yards in all 14 games this past season.
He rushed for 7.0 yards per carry, tied for the highest rate in the class with TreVeyon Henderson.
Henderson had 230 fewer attempts than Jeanty.
Jeanty handled a class-high 49.7% of his team's touches, accounting for 41.9% of Boise State’s total yardage, the highest rate in the country last season.
Only 34.5% of his rushing attempts came with a light box (six or fewer defenders), the second lowest rate in this class.
Jeanty runs like dreidel.
His contact balance can sometimes appear unorthodox, but that is because it is in rare air.
He forced a missed tackle on 33.2% of his rushing attempts, which was second in this draft class.
The only player with a higher rate also had 193 fewer attempts.
Jeanty posted 4.8 yards after contact per rush, the highest rate for any running back in this draft.
On 158 runs when hit at or behind the line of scrimmage, Jeanty averaged 2.9 yards per rush.
While that number may not pop on the surface, no running back with that many runs hit at or behind the line has posted a higher YPC over the past decade.
There have only been four seasons over that span in which a running back posted more yards per carry with 100 or more runs hit at or behind the line: Zack Moss in 2019 (3.4 YPC), Omarion Hampton in 2023 (3.1 YPC), Jonathan Taylor in 2017 (3.1 YPC), and Rashaad Penny in 2017 (3.0 YPC).
Jeanty’s ability to create yards was never on more display than in his final game against Penn State.
The box score shows that Jeanty only averaged 3.5 YPC, but his offensive line was outmatched entirely in the caliber of talent.
Jeanty forced 19 missed tackles on his 33 touches in that game, posting 81 of his 104 rushing yards after contact.
He averaged 5.5 yards per rush after contact in that game despite the 3.5 YPC in the box score.
When Jeanty was not hit at or behind the line of scrimmage, he posted a robust 9.9 yards per rush.
He rushed for 1,366 yards on runs of 15 or more yards alone, 505 more yards than the next closest player in this draft.
If you had to find some red on his ledger, Jeanty was not overly impressive in the passing game this past season.
He had a 9.1% drop rate (5th highest in this class) and was 27th out of 31 running backs invited to the combine in yards per route run (0.54).
He also allowed a 7.6% pressure rate in pass protection, which was 19th in this class.
Jeanty caught 43 passes for 569 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2023.
His 2024 production in the passing game was a significant step backward, but he does have that 2023 season to highlight his capability to catch passes.
Even with the NFL devaluing the running back position in the modern era, we have consistently seen that teams will still aggressively draft top-end talent with high-end draft capital, which happened again.
Going to Las Vegas, Jeanty will completely take over a backfield that was inept last season.
The Raiders fielded one of the worst rushing units in the NFL last season.
In 2024, their running backs combined for a league-low 1,120 yards on the ground.
Through an efficiency lens, their backfield combined to rank:
- 32nd in EPA per rush (-0.27)
- 32nd in success rate (29%)
- 32nd in rate of runs to gain a first down or touchdown (17.4%)
- 29th in rate of runs to gain 10 or more yards (7.7%)
- 24th in rate of runs that failed to gain yardage (19%)
- 24th in yards per contact per rush (1.14)
- 30th in yards after contact per rush (2.47)
There was no way that Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly would stand for that type of output in their first year with the team.
Now, the Raiders need to address the offensive line.
The Raiders closed the year ranking 22nd in run block win rate at ESPN (71%).
They fared better at Pro Football Focus, ranking 20th in run blocking grade.
While there is plenty of room for improvement here, that is not terrible considering their most-used offensive line combination was on the field for only 29.9% of their offensive snaps (24th).
Kolton Miller was the only lineman to start 17 games.
Miller remains the cornerstone of the line, but does enter this season in the final year of his current contract.
The team selected DJ Glaze in the third round of the draft last year.
Glaze started 14 games and led the team with 998 snaps at right tackle.
They selected Jackson Powers-Johnson in the second round last season, who also made 14 starts for the team.
Powers-Johnson logged time at left guard (506 snaps) and center (421) as a rookie.
While he ranked 65th overall among guards and centers at Pro Football Focus, his run-blocking grade was 35th.
The Raiders are set to give these young picks more playing time as starters in 2025.
Powers-Johnson is expected to play center with the release of Andre James.
The interior guard spots are lackluster, and the Raiders should add some contractual depth here at some point in the draft.
Jordan Meredith and Dylan Parham are in the final seasons of their contracts.
The team added Alex Cappa as veteran depth and competition inside.
TL;DR Fantasy Impact Notes
Jeanty entered this draft as the crown jewel of fantasy rookie drafts, and that is where he sits after this landing spot.
He is an immediate bellcow and the 1.01 in rookie drafts.
In 2025 redraft formats, he is in immediate contention to be in the RB1 conversation.
