Ashton Jeanty. The latest in a line of “generational” attacking players to enter the NFL. His college stats look like a video game. He plays like he’s in a video game. He can hit jukes, spins, stiff arms, and truck sticks faster than us average joes can move our thumbs across a controller.
He’s so good that a professional team felt compelled to buck the positional value mantras that dominate draft analysis. Running backs don’t matter? Don’t tell that to Jeanty, the Las Vegas Raiders, and, especially, don’t tell that to me.
He’s already a staple of the first round in early summer drafts and ranked among the top 10 RBs for this upcoming season. The question we’re left with is this: How high is too high to take Jeanty?
Jeanty is already proven
The limit, it doesn’t exist. Historically, RBs drafted in the first round of the NFL draft deliver corresponding production for fantasy football right off the bat. It’s not always pretty (Najee Harris, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Trent Richardson). But sometimes it is (Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, Bijan Robinson, Leonard Fournette, Adrian Peterson). RBs taken in the top 10 of the NFL draft are like your favorite Christmas presents. They come out of the box ready to go. It’s like Buzz LIghtyear showing up and immediately getting the primo spot on Andy’s bed.
There tends to be hesitation when it comes to anointing supreme talents such as Jeanty. So what if he crushed college, I need to see it in the pros. It’s easy to find comfort in that line of thinking. It’s also important to remember that, to paraphrase the seminal 2000s post-hardcore band Thrice, safety is an illusion. Literally all it takes is one bad step for a player’s, and their team’s, season to be completely upended. We’ve seen a Super Bowl decided in part by a player rupturing his Achilles while walking onto the field. Odell Beckham was potentially on his way to winning Super Bowl MVP when he blew out his knee before halftime. We’ve seen Tom Brady’s season end before it even began. There is no such thing as safety in football, only what we trick ourselves into believing. If nothing is safe in real football, why would anyone covet safety in fantasy football?
Getting drafted 6th overall is a confirmation of Jeanty’s talent and the perception thereof. He was the subject of numerous trade rumors. The veracity of those rumors notwithstanding, the buzz around Jeanty has marked him as one of the most compelling players going into the season. Is he as good as he looked in college? Could he be even better? What if he’s not all that? Everything in life is unknown until we know it. What we know right now, as of early June, is that Jeanty was an unbelievable college player and remains an elite RB. And he’s going to a team with running game evangelist Pete Carroll in charge and the national championship-winning, perennially-heralded-as-an-offensive-genius Chip Kelly as his coach and offensive coordinator?
So, where should you draft Ashton Jeanty in fantasy football?
I have five superstars ahead of him in whatever order you like.
- Jahmyr Gibbs
- JaMarr Chase
- Justin Jefferson
- Bijan Robinson
- Saquon Barkley
I think Jeanty enters the conversation at 1.06 and there’s only room for growth in my eyes. Barkley is coming off the kind of workload that almost guarantees a following season drop-off. Jefferson has essentially a rookie QB throwing to him after J.J. McCarthy missed all of his proper rookie season. Gibbs lost a key part of his offensive line, his OC, and still has David Montgomery lurking. I’m already on the record as being in the tank for Gibbs, but those are the knocks against him I keep hearing.
Should Jeanty go No. 1 overall in fantasy football drafts though?
I could talk myself into chasing Jeanty up the board all the way to 1.02 or 1.03. If you’re a Raiders homer or you like to feel alive, I wouldn’t bat an eye at anyone taking Jeanty 1.01 to send a message to the rest of the league. Do like the Warboys in Mad Max: Fury Road and spray your face with silver spray paint before you click the button. Valhalla awaits.
