Film room: Was Jeanty’s performance vs Penn State that bad?

Breaking down the running back’s least productive game of last season

For some, the apprehension about the Las Vegas Raiders using the sixth overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft on running back Ashton Jeanty stemmed from his performance in the College Football Playoffs against Penn State.

That was arguably the stiffest competition the Boise State product faced all year, and he had 30 carries for a season-low 99 rushing yards, 3.3 yards per carry and zero touchdowns. For perspective, it was the only time he didn’t record triple-digit rushing yards, one of two games where he was below four ypc (one of three below five ypc), and his lone multi-fumble (two) performance of the season.

However, a deeper dive into the tape shows the former Bronco didn’t have much breathing room to work with, and his outing against the Nittany Lions is more encouraging than what the box score suggests.

It was pretty clear that Penn State wasn’t going to let Jeanty beat them, daring Boise State to throw the ball. They consistently loaded the box to get a numbers advantage, meaning there was one more defender than the offense could block. Also, the Broncos were over-matched up front, often forcing Jeanty to just get what he could.

In all three of the plays above, the Nittany Lions had a numbers advantage in the box, and at least one blocker was beaten in the trenches. That left little room to run as the running back was lucky just to get back to the line of scrimmage, and it’s impressive that he was even able to get a few positive yards.

For good measure, above is one of the rare occasions when Penn State didn’t load the box since the situation didn’t call for it.

It’s 3rd and 21, a passing down, so the defense only has five defenders in the box with no linebackers on the second level, allowing the offensive line to get a ‘hat on a hat’ or account for all the defenders near the line of scrimmage.

As a result, a hole opens up on the inside zone run call, so Jeanty finally gets some breathing room and hits the hole hard to go untouched for about 20 yards. Combining that with the back’s breakaway speed to ruin the safety’s angle, and he picks up 26 yards to move the chains on third and long.

Building on the section above, the primary reason for Jeanty’s low rushing total (relatively speaking) is that he was consistently facing penetration in the backfield, where defenders were in his face right after touching the ball.

For example, Pro Football Focus had the back recording 81 of his 99 rushing yards and 2.7 of his 3.3 yards per carry after first contact. In other words, he only had 17 yards of breathing room and about half a yard of daylight each rushing attempt before getting touched.

Also, he recorded 16 forced missed tackles, which was the third-most he had in a single game. However, the majority of those came while Jeanty was either in the backfield or had just crossed the line of scrimmage, as the reps above highlight.

The last two clips are the most impressive as he makes multiple defenders miss to pick up the first down, speaking to his ability to make something out of nothing.

To be fair, Jeanty isn’t completely absolved from blame for the performance in the College Football Playoff game. Ball security is his biggest area of improvement heading into the pros, and that was exposed against Penn State. His pair of fumbles brought him up to four on the year, nine in the last two seasons and 10 during his three-year career at Boise.

He does a great job of forcing missed tackles, but he often leaves the ball exposed while doing so. The Nittany Lions were able to take advantage of that, and NFL defenders will too, so he needs to make sure the ball is secure while making defenders miss. Also, learning how to toe the line between fighting for extra yards and knowing when the play is over should be a point of emphasis for him moving forward.

Overall, though, the Raiders’ new running back’s “worst” game of the year last season was actually more encouraging than it may seem.