The Raiders’ 2025 first-round call on Ashton Jeanty is looking a lot messier now, and a former staffer has added a new wrinkle to the story.
Jeanty went sixth overall last year, but the pick already has the feel of a missed opportunity. His rookie season didn’t give the Raiders much to hang their hat on, though he got some breathing room because of the dysfunction around the coaching staff in 2025.
This year was supposed to be different with head coach Klint Kubiak in place, but Jeanty’s production has slipped even further. His rushing average has fallen from 3.7 YPC in 2025 to 3.1 YPC in 2026.
The workload has also started to tilt away from him. On Sunday, fourth-round rookie Mike Washington Jr. carried the ball 25 times while Jeanty got just two carries, which raises the question of whether Jeanty is heading toward a smaller role in the second half of the season.
That only makes the draft decision look tougher in hindsight. The Raiders took Jeanty at No. 6, then watched Armand Membou and Tetairoa McMillan come off the board with the next two picks. Offensive line and wide receiver have been two of the team’s weakest groups through the first half of the season, and the Raiders got a close look at Membou in a Jets uniform on Sunday.
The conversation picked up again on Tuesday when The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen posted about the Raiders passing on Membou in 2025 and said he believed the team should have taken Membou over Jeanty. The more revealing part came in the replies, where Ryan Paganetti, who spent one season with the Raiders in 2025 in an analytics role, suggested there were people inside the building who were against the Jeanty selection.
one day I’ll tell the story of who did and did not want to make that draft decision because the great Raiders fanbase deserves to know
- Ryan Paganetti (@RyanPaganetti) November 3, 2026
That comment immediately puts the spotlight on who actually drove the pick. The obvious assumption has been former head coach Pete Carroll, and league insider Tony Pauline reported earlier this year that Jeanty was a “Carroll pick.”
“According to sources, [John] Spytek did not have much say in the hiring of [former head coach Pete] Carroll,” Pauline reported in December.
“Holding the sixth pick of the 2025 draft, the Raiders selected record-setting running back Ashton Jeanty of Boise State, a Carroll pick. I’m told there was pushback on the selection, as many in and around the organization believed a lineman was the way to go.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham was a name making the rounds, as he was seen as a replacement for Wilkins, who the team knew they would be without in 2025. The Raiders had no opportunity to draft Graham, as the Browns selected him with the fifth choice.”
Paganetti’s version muddies that picture. He says it was not Carroll pushing Jeanty, and he also says it was not GM John Spytek pushing Membou.
What that leaves is a draft decision that, based on Paganetti’s comments, appears to have come from the top of the Raiders’ building.
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