Every Raiders fan held their breath this week when Ashton Jeanty limped off the practice field. Then they held it a little longer waiting for the official word. When the update came, it was the best-case version of a scare that could have been much worse.
Jeanty suffered what is believed to be a sprained ankle. The Raiders have not put a specific timetable on it, but multiple sources described the injury as short-term, not long-term. He is not expected to miss significant regular-season time, and the team is holding him out of contact work as a precaution.
You could hear the sigh of relief across the entire Raider Nation.
Jeanty is the rookie the Raiders drafted to be the centerpiece of their offense. The former Boise State star was one of the most productive college running backs in a generation, and he was brought to Las Vegas to be a workhorse from day one. Losing him for any real length of time would have gutted the offensive plan.
Ankle sprains are frustrating for running backs specifically because they change the way a player cuts, plants, and pushes off. Even a minor sprain can linger for weeks, and the risk with any early rookie injury is that a player tries to push through and turns a two-week issue into a two-month issue.
The Raiders are not going to let that happen. Head coach Antonio Pierce has been protective of Jeanty from the day he arrived. The plan has always been to bring him along carefully in camp, ease him into a full workload, and make sure he is fresh for a division that features Patrick Mahomes twice a year.
What this injury really did was force the Raiders to see what their backup situation looks like without their star. That is not a bad exercise for late August. The team got extended reps for the players behind Jeanty on the depth chart, and the coaching staff got real information about who they can trust when the workload has to be spread around.
Jeanty is expected back at practice in a limited capacity next week. Whether he plays in the preseason finale is still an open question. The right answer is almost certainly no. Save the reps for Week 1.
Vegas has real playoff hopes this season and they start with keeping the rookie healthy. This was a scare. It was not a disaster. And every Raiders fan will still hold their breath the next time he takes a hit that looks anything like this one.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
