Haters Gonna Hate
Yes, we know the Raiders had one of, if not, the worst offense in football last season and there is a a high level of expectation for them to continue the disappointing run (pun not intended). I’ve consistently praised Ashton through the off-season this year and received plenty of push back in the form of “the offense is going to suck again,” “no QB to take the pressure off,” “o-line is terrible.”
What seems to be slipping everyone’s mind is the numerous changes that have been made to this team over the last six months. Am I calling for the Raiders to win the Super Bowl? Of course not (wouldn’t that be exciting?) I’m not even saying they’re a playoff team yet. What I am trying to say is we should actually have higher expectations for what this team can offer in fantasy this year when it comes to Ashton. Let’s take a look into what makes this top 5 claim possible.
Klint Kubiak and The O-Line
Kuuuuubs!! There is reason to celebrate the reigning Super Bowl winning offensive coordinator coming to town as the new head coach. He has a really great running back system that was able to get the 30 year old Alvin Kamara back in the top 10 for fantasy with only 14 games played in 2024. Then last season, he goes to Seattle and gets the Ken Walker/Zach Charbonnet duo firing on all cylinders. Not to mention he helps keep Sam Darnold cooking and leads that offense to a Super Bowl championship. With that kind of presence in an offensive system, it doesn’t matter if Kirk Cousins, who by the way we are sleeping on as a good QB, or Fernando Mendoza start. They can keep the pass game alive enough to alleviate the pressure of of Jeanty and open up lanes for him to run through. That’s not even including the schemes he will draw up to get the most out of Jeanty with each and every touch.
The o-line was a really tough to get through for the run game, and really the pass game as well in 2025. Now, it’s not going to be a world beater by any means, in fact it’s still probably going to be average at best but that’s still an improvement from last year.
They went and got Tyler Linderbaum at center from the Ravens who is an exceptional run blocker and leader for this line. He alone brings a big improvement, on top of the return for Kolton Miller at LT, who has been the standalone star for them in that group. Jackson Powers-Johnson is a young guy who’s also been showing a lot of promise and he sures up the interior of that line for Jeanty to run through. They also went and got a well respected mastermind of the big guys up front, coach Rick Dennison, a four time Super Bowl winning 30 year coaching veteran.
He and Kubiak improved the Seattle run game from the 28th-best rushing offense in the NFL in 2024 (95.7 rush ypg) to the 10th best run game in the league last season (123.3 rush ypg). Now they’re here to do the same with the incredibly talented Ashton Jeanty.
Let’s Talk About The Player
When it comes to the aforementioned section of this article, we can surmise that he should be able to at minimum take a jump forward from last year. What was his fantasy finish last year you say? Oh right.
RB11 IN PPR!!
So you’re telling me that he can’t jump up six spots in fantasy to get inside the top five? Starts to sound a little crazy doesn’t it? We can even dig into some of the metrics here. I’ll use an earlier post from a fellow Dynatyze expert who touched on some interesting points:
These are the numbers in 12 personnel from 2025. Like Jeremy said (give him a follow too he’s GREAT for this content) Jeanty is absolutely in the positive regression category for the upcoming season. The offense being better will guarantee more red zone attempts and goal line attempts as well.
The guy also had 73 targets and 55 receptions. He’s going to continue to see those kind of numbers in the pass game, while the rushing numbers do nothing but improve behind a better group in the trenches, better coaching, and another year at the professional level.
Final Thoughts
When you look at the flashes he was showing last season with abysmal coaching, scheming, o-line play, QB play, and the fewest opportunities to score, you can get a really good picture of what to expect in the coming season. His yards per carry should increase, his carry total should increase under a more efficient offense. He should still see heavy involvement in the pass game too.
Draft him in the first round of your drafts this year with confidence that he finishes top five and has a realistic chance to battle for the RB1 spot in 2026.