Silver And Black Pride
Diving into the first-round pick’s 2023 tape to see what he can bring as a pass-catcher
While there’s little to no doubt about the Las Vegas Raiders first-round pick Ashton Jeanty’s rushing ability, it is fair to question how he can impact the game as a receiver.
Jeanty threatened Barry Sanders’ NCAA rushing record this season, but the sixth overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft only had 23 catches for 138 yards (6.0 ypc) and one receiving touchdown last fall. However, in 2023, he logged 43 grabs, 569 yards (13.2 ypc) and five scores as a pass-catcher.
To highlight what the Boise State product can bring to the Raiders as a receiver, I watched three of his games from the campaign mentioned above: against Washington, San Diego State and Colorado State. In those contests combined, he had 13 receptions for 200 yards and a touchdown.
What stood out is that Jeanty has three ways he can impact the passing game: swing routes, screens and check-downs. So, let’s flip on the tape and have a look.
The primary way Boise State got Jeanty involved as a receiver was, essentially, by just giving him long handoffs where he gets the ball in the open field and tests defenders’ tackling ability. In fact, one or two of the plays above may have actually gone down as a carry since the quarterback threw the ball backward.
Hence the large volume of swing routes/passes where the offense’s goal is to spread the defense out and turn the play into ‘basketball on grass’, where it’s three-on-three or four-on-four instead of dealing with all the defenders in the box.
Also, especially with a ball carrier who is hard to bring down, that makes tackling more difficult for the defense. There’s more room to run, it forces defensive backs to be physical, and linebackers tend to overpursue since they’re running full speed and closing in at an awkward angle.
That’s where Jeanty’s ability to make guys miss can really be impactful in the passing game. As seen in a few of the clips above, all he needs to do is make one cut to force a missed tackle and it's an easy first down or a chunk gain to stay head of the sticks.
On a similar note, screens were another way that the Broncos gave Jeanty long handoffs in the passing game and opportunities to play ‘basketball on grass’ to make defenders miss in the open field.
The biggest difference between screens and swing passes is that screens are more similar to a running play. Jeanty is really good at setting up blocks, so with offensive linemen and/or tight ends blocking for him downfield, he can manipulate defenders by stemming or pushing one direction and cutting back the other way to create an open lane.
The first clip above is a great example. After catching the ball, his first two steps are up the field despite having an inside lane. That forces the cornerback on the...
