Raiders GM John Spytek Given Ultimatum To Draft Ashton Jeanty From a Surprising Individual!

The NFL draft is fast approaching and is less than a month away. Teams are being linked with multiple players from various mock drafts. Nailing a draft requires extensive research and scouting of players and even then there is no guarantee how the selection will pan out. However, teams have positional needs, and adding top-level talent at the required position is the main aspect of the draft. 

Having said that, there is plenty of pressure on a franchise’s front office and coaching staff to identify the areas of need and plan a draft strategy. Depending on where a team is drafting, especially in the first few rounds, it is easy to identify and fill the gaps, but even then there are always those handful of players who command the most attention. 

A similar situation of sorts is taking place with the Las Vegas Raiders this year. They have the number 6 overall pick and their needs are plenty. However, general manager John Spytek is being pressured to land Boise State’s running back Ashton Jeanty by none other than his very own son. Yes, funnily enough, Spytek’s older son, Jack seems to believe that his father must select Jeanty in the first round otherwise he will walk out of the family and find someone else. Spytek was recently on SiriusXM Radio where he talked about his ten-year-old son Jack and his passion for the draft and the NFL in general. 

Being the general manager of a professional football team in the NFL, Spytek must have been taken aback to hear his son’s request as well as approval of his skills for the position. And since this has come from an enthusiastic youngster, we can take the demand with a pinch of salt. Yet, despite the incident turning into a light moment, perhaps his opinion does merit a deeper level of consideration. 

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Should the Raiders Draft Jeanty With Their First Round Pick? 

The thing that stands out from this episode is that Spytek’s son may be onto something. Last season, the Raiders had a terrible rushing attack. Vegas ranked dead last in the 2024 season with just 78.9 rushing yards per game, averaging only 3.6 yards per attempt (also last), for a total of just 1,357 total rushing yards on the year. No surprise, last again. Their 10 rushing touchdowns meant that they finished 5th from the bottom resulting in an overall shambolic performance on the ground. 

The Raiders are short of quality on the offense and finding a top-level running back to replace Josh Jacobs who left to join the Packers last season will be a priority in this draft. However, the Raiders need to bring in talent all along the ground and this year’s running back class is one of the strongest in recent years. 

Thus, Vegas could and should focus on other requirements especially in the first round or two as they can always grab a more than decent rusher later in the draft. Perhaps adding a talented wide receiver at the top of the draft would help Jakobi Myers and Brock Bowers distribute the load since the receiver class is not as deep as some of the previous ones. 

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