The moment Klint Kubiak was introduced as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, Ashton Jeanty became everybody’s projected breakout star. It wasn’t hard to see why. Kubiak’s offense, built on zone running, movement at the second level, and letting a patient back pick his way through creases, seemed designed for exactly the kind of runner Jeanty had been since college. He was a former Heisman finalist, a top draft pick at No. 6 overall, and by all expectations the piece the Raiders had been missing for years. Fans and analysts immediately starting drawing comparisons to the league’s best running backs and talking about the volume of work he’d carrying. Training camp should have been filled with stories about him, about the running lanes, about the way he could turn a simple handoff into a 30-yard bolt. Instead, the story turned in an instant, as these stories so often do. Jeanty went down during a late preseason practice with a right ankle sprain. The image of him being helped off the field was enough to send a sudden chill through the building. He disappeared from practice for over two weeks, and the excitement that had buzzed around the team quickly started to feel like a nervous hum. The Raiders had invested in him, the coaching staff had designed their whole identity around him, and suddenly the opening of the season was no longer about what Jeanty could do, but about whether he could even be on the field to try. Every missed day felt heavier, because a player like Jeanty isn’t a luxury, he is the engine. Without his weight shifting behind the offensive line, the Raiders’ plans were only half built, and the fanbase knew it.
This week, the mood finally shifted. Kubiak told reporters that Jeanty was expected to return to practice on Wednesday, and for everybody who had been holding their breath around the Raiders’ facility, that was enough to make the week feel a little less stressful. It wasn’t a full declaration. It wasn’t a guarantee that Jeanty would play Sunday when the Raiders open against the Miami Dolphins. It was the first meaningful update after two weeks of small hints and talk about progress. There was no precise promise about how much he would be on Wednesday, whether he’d be limited, condition, take part in individual drills, or be asked to do it full-speed in team periods. The plan was clear was simply that, at last, Jeanty would be back in the team shop. That is a more meaningful piece of news than it looks like, because it suggests the sprained ankle has healed enough for a coach and medical staff to at least push him. It did not mean he would be Sunday, but it means he’s the direction. The guessing now shifts to a more dynamic, more hopeful question: not “Is he hurt?” but “Will he play?” For a team that had been bracing itself for a bad answer, the difference was enormous. The Raiders know what they have with Jeanty, and they know their season will be better if he is on the field. But the injury has so much unknown and last-minute decisions around him that the next couple of practices become as meaningful as the opener itself. Wednesday was just the beginning of a longer test, but it was also the beginning of something the team desperately needed: a chance.
And we all remember how heavy the coach wanted to use Jeanty. Kubiak had been open about this idea since him taken the job. He wanted a big workload, the kind of trust shown to elite running backs in offenses that win in the trenches. He brought up Christian McCaffrey many times, and not in a casual way. In his year at San Francisco, McCaffrey touched the ball nearly every shotgun in important moments, but check over 400 last season. That type of usage is a reminder that the NFL still has room for the true workhorse: a runner who can carry the offense, into the defense to stack up, then catch a pass in space and sustained a drive all by himself. Jeanty fits that mold, which was exactly why Kubiak kept talking about him the way he did. You don’t spend a top pick and a another football identity on a backup-backs; you make sure the offensive line is rebuilt, train conflict, then hand the ball to your guy and let everything around him falls. The plan, when described, sounded like exactly the kind of season that he likely breakout: 20, 25, 30 touches per game weekly wins, and vast numbers that follow naturally from all that play. But the ankle incident put that whole plan on hold. It’s one thing to design a game around him; it’s another to know whether the foot meet. In the entire offseason, the Raiders had done everything to set up the circumstances. But the moment he hurt the ankle, all that structure up in the air. It might only be a short-term ass, but in the NFL, even a sprain can be significant.
In his absence, a whole new opportunity opened up for Mike Washington Jr., who came in as a fourth-round pick, a speeding bullet in training camp, and quickly became a name Vegas fans repeat to know. Washington ran a 4.33 at the combine, a small fraction of a second, making him one of the fastest running backs not only in his class but in the entire league. He had plenty of moments in the preseason, too. He looked clean on his tracks, quick on the perimeter, and before long, the story was already being written: the Raiders might have found a second back who can fill the gap. That has made the injury decision even more interesting. Could he be the guy? If Jeanty is truly not ready, week 1 can become a draft where Washington takes an early outside run to become a contributor. He is not another Jeanty; nobody suggests he has the pound-for-pound power of a workhorse. But in a situation like this, with a top back slightly wounded, a backup with false speed and confidence is the best bulletin you can have. It gives the Raiders at least something on the table. If a backup was weak, the team might be forced to announce Jeanty despite a risk. Instead, Washington’s fallback presence means that Las Vegas can be careful, can have a real plan, and can go to Miami with a run game that is more than just a shrug. The risk is clear: if they want to beat the salty Dolphins, they might need the starter’s lever and his ability to take off outside, but at least if he has to wait, there is still a player who has shown he can create. The real answer is probably depends on how Washington has looked in practice as well. And the decision is not just about Jeanty’s body, but about the offense as a whole.
Sometimes the medical staff needs to think about Sunday, but also the long season. Jeanty’s ankle, as a right ankle sprain, can be serious if he comes back early. The Raiders don’t want to spend their rookie running back on opening weekend and then lose him for four-plus weeks. The player wants to be back. He was drafted, has a big role, and opportunities with this are the exact kind every young player would burst on the field. But the decision isn’t his alone. Kubiak has the ultimate call to be patient or to have him ready. It’s hard to know if he’s fully considered for an ankle until he does an all-out cut or reacts to a lateral. Practice on Wednesday and Thursday can help clear up that unknown. If Jeanty is moving around fine and looks fast, the chances rising that he’ll suit up against the Dolphins. If he starts but then becomes sore or can’t push off, the team is more likely to let Washington take over. A major part of this equation is that the NFL schedule doesn’t wait. Week 1 is now set, and every rash early in the season matters. The Dolphins are always a fast, volatile opponent, and going into that game with a runner at half speed can be worse than not playing him at all. By allowing him to return this Wednesday, Kubiak has given the medical staff and the player a chance to test the leg. What he can do under the warm sunwill tell more than any MRI. For fans, the Sunday setting will be a case of adrenaline and hope, but the decision is more about controlling than gambling. For a franchise that has been stock is every season, this opening game feels like early proof. It’s a simple choice and yet almost more stressful than a complete diagnosis.
The rest of the league, of course, was not standing still. Patrick Mahomes’s Week 1 return was already generating unusual concern among some former quarterbacks, with the idea that he was going to rush too soon or not be in middle. That was another thread of anxiety in the news room. Puka Nacua was facing a big suspension message before the Rams’ opener, which could change the season if he misses time. In Cleveland, the fans were often also in a state of anger with Todd Monken does on the team’s decision around DeShawn Watson. For everyone, these things are all interconnected; the NFL season is a series of decisions, complications, smaller weights. But Jeanty’s story remains relevant because it captures the unpredictability of the league—the player, physical, with as much promise tried long. The Raiders had everything set up from the coaching, to the plan, to a high draft pick—and then one of his body has a hardened line “not yet.” There is comfort in the fact that he is back on the practice field, Wednesday gives a natural chance, a plan, and not an expiration. Las Vegas fans can look at Sunday with hope, not because everything is fixed, but because the central piece still could be on the field. It’s not a joyful conclusion, not yet, but for a season opener everything has to start somewhere. Sometimes the best news is simply that, for the first time, a team can let itself believe.
