Film room: Jeanty the receiver

Diving into the first-round pick’s 2023 tape to see what he can bring as a pass-catcher

While there’s little to no doubt about the Las Vegas Raiders first-round pick Ashton Jeanty’s rushing ability, it is fair to question how he can impact the game as a receiver.

Jeanty threatened Barry Sanders’ NCAA rushing record this season, but the sixth overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft only had 23 catches for 138 yards (6.0 ypc) and one receiving touchdown last fall. However, in 2023, he logged 43 grabs, 569 yards (13.2 ypc) and five scores as a pass-catcher.

To highlight what the Boise State product can bring to the Raiders as a receiver, I watched three of his games from the campaign mentioned above: against Washington, San Diego State and Colorado State. In those contests combined, he had 13 receptions for 200 yards and a touchdown.

What stood out is that Jeanty has three ways he can impact the passing game: swing routes, screens and check-downs. So, let’s flip on the tape and have a look.

The primary way Boise State got Jeanty involved as a receiver was, essentially, by just giving him long handoffs where he gets the ball in the open field and tests defenders’ tackling ability. In fact, one or two of the plays above may have actually gone down as a carry since the quarterback threw the ball backward.

Hence the large volume of swing routes/passes where the offense’s goal is to spread the defense out and turn the play into ‘basketball on grass’, where it’s three-on-three or four-on-four instead of dealing with all the defenders in the box.

Also, especially with a ball carrier who is hard to bring down, that makes tackling more difficult for the defense. There’s more room to run, it forces defensive backs to be physical, and linebackers tend to overpursue since they’re running full speed and closing in at an awkward angle.

That’s where Jeanty’s ability to make guys miss can really be impactful in the passing game. As seen in a few of the clips above, all he needs to do is make one cut to force a missed tackle and it’s an easy first down or a chunk gain to stay head of the sticks.

On a similar note, screens were another way that the Broncos gave Jeanty long handoffs in the passing game and opportunities to play ‘basketball on grass’ to make defenders miss in the open field.

The biggest difference between screens and swing passes is that screens are more similar to a running play. Jeanty is really good at setting up blocks, so with offensive linemen and/or tight ends blocking for him downfield, he can manipulate defenders by stemming or pushing one direction and cutting back the other way to create an open lane.

The first clip above is a great example. After catching the ball, his first two steps are up the field despite having an inside lane. That forces the cornerback on the bottom of the screen to stay on the numbers, setting up the left guard’s (No. 66) block.

Then, Jeanty makes a subtle cut inside before forcing one defender to miss in the open field, staying on-balance through an arm tackle attempt and putting the ball in the endzone for six points.

Finally, check-downs aren’t the sexiest routes since they typically don’t result in big gains. But being a reliable safety net for a quarterback is an important role for a running back in the passing game, especially when the defense’s pressure starts to come.

So, while the plays above aren’t the biggest gains from Jeanty, he does demonstrate a few quality traits that can be impactful.

For one, the running back shows off natural hands as a pass-catcher and the ability to adjust to the ball, which the last clip against Washington highlights best. He runs a simple flat route that is wide open, with the receivers clearing out the defensive backs playing a zone-match coverage.

However, the pass is slightly off-target as it’s thrown behind instead of in front of him. With the back’s momentum going toward the sideline or in the opposite direction, that’s not an easy adjustment to make. But Jeanty jumps to slow himself down and turns his body in the air for the back-shoulder throw before making one defender miss to set up third-and-short.

Additionally, in the first clip against Colorado State (second in the entire reel), Jeanty showcases the ability to make a catch through contact. He runs a quick out route as a slot receiver on a Hank concept from Boise State, where the corner at the top of the screen has to stay deep to protect against the vertical release from the outside receiver.

So, Jeanty is schemed open here, but the corner is quick to recognize the play design and drives on the out route once the quarterback throws the pass. That allows the corner to make contact shortly after the ball arrives, but Jeanty does a good job of tucking it into his body and bracing for contact to secure the catch.

According to Pro Football Focus, the No. 6 overall pick didn’t have a single drop on 48 targets in 2023 and only had one on 16 targets the year before. That said, he did have three on 33 last fall, giving him something to work on between now and training camp. The good news is he’s been sure-handed in the past.

Overall, Jeanty’s route-tree is pretty limited based on how he was used in college. I can recall him running one, maybe two, choice routes in the games I watched (ironically, the one that sticks out came from this past season against Penn State). And those routes weren’t impressive, as he didn’t create much separation, if any at all.

So, outside of the running back basics: swing routes, screens and checkdowns, don’t expect the first-rounder to make a huge impact as a receiver in year one, since route-running is an area where he could use some more work. Luckily, Jeanty does have a few traits as a pass-catcher to build off of.