Last Sunday against the New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty — the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft — saw his workload cut to season lows pretty much across the board. 

Jeanty carried the ball just twice, gaining only 9 yards on the ground. He also played only 39.7% of the team's offensive snaps, a new low this season by over 13 percentage points. Nominal backup Mike Washington Jr., a fourth-round rookie, saw a season-high 25 carries and a 60.3% snap share that was his highest by over 25 percentage points.

Raiders coach Klint Kubiak explained the reversal of fortunes during his Monday media session with reporters.

"I stand by what I said (Sunday) that we're going to need Mike, we're going to need Ashton, we're going to need Dylan (Laube)," Kubiaksaid. "They're all part of our success, run and pass. Ashton made huge plays for us in the pass game. He was phenomenal in protection like he's always been. The way the game went yesterday, Mike got more carries. Going forward, we're going to be counting on all three of those guys."

Jeanty did make a few nice plays in the passing game, catching three of four passes thrown his way and racking up 64 yards through the air. He has been an effective pass catcher this season, hauling in 37 of 48 targets for 376 yards and three touchdowns. His work in that area stands in stark contrast to his ineffectiveness on the ground, where he is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry and looking not one bit like the explosive playmaker he was at Boise State.

It's likely that inefficiency is pushing the Raiders to funnel more work to Washington, who is averaging 4.3 yards per carry. That's not tremendously efficient, either, but it's a lot better than 3.1 per carry. Still, Kubiak noted that the distribution of touches and snaps might not be the same every week.

"I think it's always a moving target. You see where your team is at and who's playing the best ball at the time. It's a 17-game regular season where things change every week," Kubiak said. "That's the NFL. We have a young roster and we're going to give guys opportunities and see what fits us best. But your 11, whether you're playing really well or not playing well at all, it's always going to change a little bit."

It's also worth noting that Jeanty's workload reduction came after he called out the Jets' defense in the lead-up to the game. 

"I think we can definitely get the run game going, get back on track and just really get after these guys," Jeanty said last week, via the New York Post. "Couple of guys out there that don't really want to tackle, but I'm not going to say names." 

The Raiders ended up winning the game, but not on the strength of their rushing attack, which yielded just 2.9 yards per carry on 33 attempts. It was Kirk Cousins and the passing offense that carried Las Vegas to a win.

After snapping their four-game losing streak with a win over New York, the Raiders have a tough upcoming schedule. They travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers this weekend, then host the Seattle Seahawks before visiting the Denver Broncos. It'll be tough to get the ground game going against those opponents, too, but it'll still be interesting to watch how the backfield split shakes itself out during that time, and whether Jeanty falls even further out of favor.