This eye-popping stat helps explain Ashton Jeanty’s rough NFL introduction

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Former Boise State star Ashton Jeanty hasn’t enjoyed the most fruitful start to his NFL career. The tenacious running back was drafted sixth overall by Las Vegas in the NFL Draft in April, and he quickly became a betting favorite to be offensive rookie of the year while he revitalized the Raiders’ running game, which ranked last in the league last season.

Instead, all the Raiders have showed that their problems go much deeper than having a standout runner, and one statistic for last season’s Heisman Trophy runner-up kind of proves it.

After three games, Jeanty has rushed for 145 yards after contact, a strong showing. The problem is that he has just 144 yards rushing on the season, showing how often the defense is crashing through his offensive line and hitting him before he even gets to the line of scrimmage.

Jeanty, who averaged 185 yards per game and 6.9 yards per carry in his final season at Boise State, is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry in three NFL games.

More often than not, Jeanty is trying to shed tackles in the backfield before he can even get going. It’s something he’s very good at it, clearly, but having 101% of your rushing yards come after contact is unheard of.

Just five other players with at least 100 rushing yards this season have at least 80% of their total after contact, including another former Boise State Bronco, Jeremy McNichols (85%) of the Washington Commanders.

The next-highest after Jeanty is fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins with the Cleveland Browns (93%).

How leaky has the Raiders’ offensive line been? According to ESPN, Jeanty was hit behind the line of scrimmage on 11 of his 17 carries against Washington last weekend, and he still managed 63 yards.

For the entire season, he’s been hit behind the line on 27 of his 47 rushing attempts.

Raiders quarterback Geno Smith acknowledged the offensive line’s struggles on Wednesday, saying in a press conference that Jeanty needs more help because “when he gets in the open field, he’s hard to stop.”

Jeanty has been proving that as well when he can, but as his rushing attempts show, he hasn’t exactly had his number called a ton by offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Las Vegas is 1-2 and Smith is averaging 35 pass attempts per game, with the Raiders often playing from behind.