HENDERSON, Nev. – The Las Vegas Raiders selected their running back of the future on Thursday, taking Boise State superstar Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Jeanty is coming off a Mt. Rushmore-esque season with Boise State in 2024, where he finished just 27 yards shy of Barry Sanders’ single-season FBS rushing record with 2,601 yards. Jeanty also ran for 29 touchdowns, the seventh highest total in FBS history and the most of any player since 2017. Jeanty also became the only player in FBS history with 14 100+ yard rushing performances in a single season en route to finishing with more rushing yards than 114 of 134 FBS schools.

While Jeanty made history and reached true national prominence as a bellcow running back last season, his stellar pass-catching and YAC ability out of the backfield had him profiled as an elite receiving back before then. While his opportunities in that realm were somewhat diminished during his junior season due to how effective he was as a runner, he caught 43 passes for 569 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore in 2023-24.

Jeanty joins a reinvigorated Raiders franchise, led by recently hired Super Bowl-winning head coach Pete Carroll and GM John Spytek. Given Carroll’s extensive history with beloved one-time Raider running back Marshawn Lynch, “Beast Mode” was the obvious player comparison.

"There are similarities (with Lynch) in his ability to make plays when it doesn't look like there's anything there," Carroll said. "Marshawn did that throughout his career, and he found a physical way to kind of bank off of people and bounce and just keep alive. Ashton is a player that shows that kind of style. That's one of the aspects of his style, with his burst and all of the other things that he does. There's a special makeup in Ashton in particular."

The comparison to Lynch was one Jeanty certainly approved of.

“Even growing up, Marshawn was one of the first backs I started watching and looking up to,” Jeanty said. “Just breaking tackles and making crazy plays down the field. There are a lot of similarities there.”

Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly also gets a shiny new toy to mix into his offense. Kelly has long been deemed one of the sport’s creative masterminds when it comes to scheming the run and he’s also extremely proficient in using the run to scheme play-action plays, which will likely be a huge part of the Raiders' offense this upcoming season. After all, newly acquired quarterback Geno Smith had the third-best play-action grade in the NFL last season.

"We're trying to set this up so that Chip and the coaches on the offensive side have the opportunities to create all of the things they know are capable of. I'm fired up for Chip. I know he knows. He can see in the minicamp we just had that we've got some stuff that we can work with."

The Raiders’ new franchise player does have a history with Las Vegas. Jeanty played three games against UNLV during his collegiate career and won all three, and two of those games were played at his new Allegiant Stadium home. Jeanty and Boise State trounced UNLV in consecutive Mountain West championship games, one in Las Vegas in 2023 and the other in Boise this past season with a College Football Playoff berth on the line. The Broncos also beat the Rebels in a 29-24 instant classic at Allegiant Stadium in October that was billed as one of the most anticipated Group of 5 games ever.

Now, instead of being the adversary in Las Vegas, he’ll get to play the hero.

“My impression of (Las Vegas) has been great,” Jeanty said. “It's a great city. There's a lot of history in the Raiders building, a lot of amazing players that went through there. A lot of winning and championships. I'm excited to go over there and be a part of that.”

Jeanty is now the highest-drafted player in Boise State program history and the sixth to be taken in the first round, joining Ryan Clady (2008), Kyle Wilson (2010), Shea McLellin (2012), Doug Martin (2012) and Leighton Vander Esch (2018). Jeanty is also the first Boise State player to be drafted by the Raiders since the Silver and Black took linebacker Jim Ellis in the 10th round in 1987, though Ellis only appeared in the NFL as a replacement player during the 1987 players' strike.

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