As far as Ashton Jeanty the individual prospect goes, you’d be hard-pressed finding an NFL evaluator of any kind who doesn’t believe the Boise State superstar is a sensational player. Even Mel Kiper Jr., who’s far from shy when it comes to being anti-running back, couldn’t help but justify the Las Vegas Raiders selecting him sixth-overall, ranking Jeanty as the fourth-best overall player in the 2025 NFL Draft.
If you’ve been following my work on Jeanty–and I’ve been on the Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders pairing for months now–you know all about how the 21-year-old running back led the FBS in virtually every positive stat there is. Most by a wide, wide margin, even. For example, Jeanty had so many yards after contact in 2024, that he totaled more yards post-contact than any runner had in general; pre- and post-contact combined.
You know all about the unbelievably Jeanty factoids such as him forcing more missed tackles than any singular player in the history of college football, and how he’s the first player in college football history to record at least 1,000 positive yards in a season on plays where he was met either at or behind or the line of scrimmage.
In fact, if you’ve been following my work on Jeanty over the past few months, you’re probably downright tired of hearing about him. You may even be somewhat annoyed that you’re reading another article about Ashton Jeanty written by me at this very moment.
If you aren’t familiar with the abovementioned factoids, however, you can find most of them here.
With all that in mind, I’m going to skip right over the ‘Jeanty is him’ spiel and get to the reason why you’re here; to talk about the Raiders’ offensive line, and if the unit will halt Jeanty’s production.
Ashton Jeanty, and the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive line
While analysts unanimously agree Ashton Jeanty is a phenomenal individual prospect, some struggle to understand the pick. That’s because a running back can’t produce without a good offensive line. And the Raiders are in need of help upfront.
Funny enough, neither one of those statements are particularly true.
Premier running backs – which Ashton Jeanty is viewed as by virtually each and every analyst – don’t need great blocking to produce. They don’t even need good blocking to produce. Heck, premier running backs have a tendency to produce in bunches with the worst blocking in the National Football League.
And that’s not an exaggeration.
Take Nick Chubb, for example, who ran for a career-high 93.4 yards per contest in 2019 (1,494 yards total–second-most in NFL) with eight touchdowns. The Browns’ offensive line that season ranked bottom-10 league-wide via Pro Football Focus’ final OL rankings, particularly struggling in run-blocking.
Chubb was able to do this because he was a master at creating for himself; making defenders miss at an elite level. With 66 forced missed tackles in 2019, Josh Jacobs was the only player to top Chubb in this area. Jacobs who, himself, recorded 1,150 rushing yards and seven touchdowns through 13 contests.
This bodes well with Ashton Jeanty who, statistically, is the slipperiest running back college football has ever seen. Not only was he the only player in the entirety of the FBS to total 16-plus forced missed tackles in any week this past year, but he was able to do it three times, including against Penn State’s elite defense.
Jeanty’s 152 forced missed tackles in 2024 stands 48 more than any running back has totaled in a season this entire decade.
Throughout his three-year collegiate career, Jeanty has made 284 would-be tacklers miss. That’s the highest total in college football history.
Saquon Barkely and Derrick Henry, anyone?
Barkley and Henry, two premier running backs in the NFL, are staples in proving that elite running backs don’t need great offensive line play to produce. They’re able to produce with the worst units league-wide blocking for them.
Seriously, that is not an exaggeration.
The 2022 regular season is definitive proof of that alone. During the ’22 season, the New York Giants had the 30th-best ranked offensive line via Pro Football Focus’ final ’22 OL rankings. Still, Barkley was able to rush for over 1,300 yards and double-digit touchdowns, just as he did in 2018 when his offensive line ranked 21st-best.
And the 32nd-best offensive line that season? That’s none other than the Tennessee Titans. Yes, the same Tennessee Titans who had a 1,538-yard, 13-touchdown runner in the backfield that same year: Derrick Henry.
As you can see, great running backs find ways to be great even with less than ideal blocking.
Sure, both Barkley and Henry were able to produce even greater behind better offensive lines, such as Barkley’s 2,005 rushing yards in 2024 behind an elite Eagles’ OL unit, and Henry’s 1,921-yard, 16-touchdown season behind great blockers with the Ravens, but that doesn’t change the fact these two produced greatly behind offensive lines that were bottom-of-the-barrel units.
But that’s almost neither here nor there. Because while all of that is indeed true, the Las Vegas Raiders do, in fact, have a plenty viable offensive line.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive line
If you’re looking at the rankings via Pro Football Focus’ final OL ranking, you’ll see that the Raiders finished their ’24 campaign with the 26th-best ranked offensive line. That’s a bad number.
However, the Raiders’ situation is a unique one. One that involved a beat-up left tackle, two rookies jumping into the fire late, and a few notable moving parts.
It’s the first-half of the ’24 season that held this unit down so low. To the point that a good second-half wasn’t enough to lift poor averages weighed down by the first eight weeks.
It all started with star left tackle Kolton Miller.
After suffering a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery, Miller hoped right into Week 1 action. It was clear he shouldn’t have, though. From Weeks 1-4, Miller was responsible for six sacks. For reference, no offensive lineman at any other position allowed more than four sacks throughout this timeframe.
Rookies Jackson Powers-Johnson and D.J. Glaze jumped into the fire Week 3, both who immediately earned starting roles. Powers-Johnson in particular was nursing a shoulder injury, one that resulted in missing time in both OTAs and training camp. It was straight from college to a starting job in the NFL for the Oregon alum, without a period of transition due to his shoulder injury.
As you probably could’ve guessed, this led to Powers-Johnson not starting off too hot. From Weeks 1-8, the 22-year-old was responsible for the 13th-lowest pass-block grade among all guards league-wide with 300-plus snaps.
In the meantime, Andre James was struggling to be effective at center. His run-blocking grade was the second-wort in the NFL among all players at his position during this timeframe.
Combine all of this, and you get a truly bottom-of-the-barrel offensive line.
But things can change quickly
Eventually, Miller would get back to full strength, allowing one single sack from Week 5 onward. That’s the Kolton Miller who Raider Nation knows; the tackle who’s earned a 79-plus grade as a pass-blocker during each of his last five campaigns.
For the rest of the unit, change came in a big way entering Week 9 when Powers-Johnson moved to center. This effectively fixed two problems at once: Powers-Johnson’s lack of dominance at guard, and James’ struggles at center.
From Week 9 onward, the 2024 second-rounder allowed only one sack and nine pressures. That’s one pressure per contest. His pass-blocking grade ranked 14th-highest among all centers during this timeframe and his run-blocking ranked fifth-highest. All-in-all, Powers-Johnson was one-of-three centers to have a grade of 70-plus as both a run- and pass-blocker from Weeks 9-18.
Talk about a world of improvement: From second-lowest graded run-blocking center, all the way to fifth-highest. Bodes pretty well with the new first-rounder in Sin City, wouldn’t you say?
But that’s not all that happened with Powers-Johnson moving to center. With this move, there was now a hole at guard. One that Jordan Meredith stepped in and filled.
Meredith, a three-year member of the Raiders, was a true star up-front. In truth, there’s an argument to be made that he was Las Vegas’ best offensive lineman during the second-half of the season.
From Weeks 9-18, Meredith didn’t allow his quarterback to be sacked any amount of times. He, like Powers-Johnson, earned a grade of 70-plus as both a run- and pass-blocker. The run-blocking was certainly of note as well, proven true by his 75.8 grade in that area; the 12th-highest among all guards with over 100 snaps in that timeframe.
Powers-Johnson just so happened to share that same 75.8 run-blocking grade, too.
Blocking for Ashton Jeanty: As for Glaze and Parham..
Would you believe it if I told you Parham was directly on par with Powers-Johnson and Meredith on running downs? While the latter two both shared a run-blocking grade of 75.8, Parham was right behind with a mark of 75.6. The downside, however, was in his pass-blocking, where he allowed five sacks throughout the season.
D.J. Glaze, the worst-graded run-blocker on the line, still managed to earn a run-blocking grade of 68.4. This number was, for reference, .3 lower than All-Pro Buffalo Bills tackle Dion Dawkins.
Does any of this sound like Ashton Jeanty truly has something to worry about? Not that it matters too much, because as we’ve seen, elite running backs produce at an elite level regardless.
But does any of this sound concerning to any degree? Does any of this sound like the Las Vegas Raiders made a mistake in drafting Ashton Jeanty because they “don’t have an offensive line”?
The answer couldn’t be simpler. No.
Glaze did struggle in pass-protection, allowing the second-most pressures in the entire NFL at the tackle position (38). The only tackle to allow more was New Orleans Saints’ OT Trevor Penning, who was effectively replaced in the 2025 NFL Draft.
All the same, Glaze has shown the potential to pass-block at a high-level. Take his matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, where he helped hold T.J. Watt to zero pressures throughout the entire contest. This was the first time [T.J.] Watt failed to record a pressure in any game since the 2018 season.
“It’s tackle football,” Ashton Jeanty wrote to NFL general managers before the 2025 NFL Draft kicked off. “I’d draft the guy they can’t tackle.”
And right Jeanty is. Because, when a running back is able to create for himself and slip tackles, they produce at a high-clip regardless of their offensive line. Luckily for Jeanty, he just so happens to also have a talented group of run-blockers in front of him.
*Top Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie/ Imagn Images