Raiders Called Out Over Ashton Jeanty Decision Amid Struggles

The Las Vegas Raiders are 2-5 heading into their bye week after a disastrous loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. Moreover, hindsight is 20/20, but the Geno Smith experiment has been disappointing to say the least.

As a result, would the Raiders have been better off drafting a quarterback with their first-round pick rather than drafting Ashton Jeanty? Only two quarterbacks went in the first round: Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart.

ESPN 710’s Jorge Sedano and Scott Kaplan believe that the Silver and Black should’ve drafted a rookie quarterback in the first round over selecting Jeanty. This would have meant either trading back to draft Dart or giving up assets to get back into the first round to select the Ole Miss product.

“The difference between Ashton Jeanty being good at running back and the next good running back is a lot smaller, the margins, than a good young quarterback being the guy at that position for you moving forward,” Sedano said. “Not to mention how much it helps you from a cap perspective that you’re not paying the rookie quarterback the same salary you would a veteran quarterback, which then allows you to put better pieces around him.”


Do the Raiders Regret Trading for Geno Smith?

Moreover, Kaplan believes there are lessons to be learned when losing with a rookie who can comprehend and develop from his mistakes. Meanwhile, a veteran quarterback like Smith making errors or having poor play is inexcusable.

As a result, he notes that having someone like Dart who can learn from these losses would’ve been a more ideal situation for the Raiders.

“The Raiders, and they know it to be true now, they probably didn’t know it at the beginning, the screw up was Geno Smith because of what you’re saying,” Kaplan added.

“They’re spending too much money on a guy who’s not a top-flight quarterback, and they’d be better served with a young guy, because young guys can lose games, but at least they’re starting to make some improvements in their game. I mean, Jaxson Dart is going to learn from the terrible interception that he threw [in Week 7] late in that game against Denver.”


Ashton Jeanty Flashes Leadership Traits

While the ESPN radio hosts have questions over Jeanty, the rookie running back is beginning to flash traits of a leader. After a disappointing performance from Las Vegas, Jeanty spoke with the media and gave honest thoughts on their performance against the Chiefs.

“Just a terrible performance by us as a team,” Jeanty said after the Week 7 loss to the Chiefs. “Couldn’t stop them on defense and offense. We couldn’t get going at all. So, you’re going to lose a lot of football games like that…

“We just got to be better. I mean, simple as that. We got to go back, watch the film, can’t point the finger, can’t point a finger at coaches for the scheme or another player for making a mistake. We got to look inward and see how each and every single one of us can get better to make sure that never happens again.”

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