2025 NFL Draft Profiles: Boise State’s Super Stellar RB Ashton Jeanty
With the 2025 NFL Draft just hours away, all eyes will be on the first 10 picks by the teams looking for their next great superstar. One of those stars in particular is Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty, arguably the most sought-after RB in this year’s draft class. Most mocks have him going 5th overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, while others place him at 6th overall, instead landing with the Las Vegas Raiders. In any case, what exactly makes him one of the most coveted players in this year’s pool, regardless of his position?
Stats
Jeanty was dominantly the country’s leading rusher in 2024, racking up over 2600 total yards, way more than Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo, who compiled just over 1700. Jeanty also finished 2nd in total rushing touchdowns with 29, with Army QB Bryson Daily edging him out at 32. As for rushing attempts, the Broncos’ superstar back led the country in that statistic as well, taking off for 374 total carries in 14 games, including in the College Football Playoff, where he would unfortunately be uncharacteristically stymied by Penn State’s run defense.
Now, of course, unlike many other top prospects in this year’s pool, Jeanty played against mid-major competition, Boise State being in the Mountain West Conference. And yet, it was still impressive to see a program like Boise State make the Playoff entirely, since most schools were in Power 5 leagues. But the Broncos have clearly been the most dominant non-Power 5 program in the last decade and more, and it’s a wonder why they haven’t joined a Power 5 conference already, although they will join other MWC members in the reborn Pac-12 in 2026.
Landing Spots
As mentioned earlier, most mock drafts have Jeanty, a junior from Boise State, landing in Southern Florida with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That is a team in desperate need of a new rushing attack, and given how dominant he was during the 2024 season, it seems like a match made in heaven. The Jags’ rushing offense has stalled out ever since the decline of starters like Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby. Having a new superstar RB like Jeanty would instantly recharge a stalled rushing attack and maybe give QB Trevor Lawrence some new confidence in his overall offensive scheme.
Overall Odds
It may seem strange that the same odds used for whoever might win games are also used to predict draft picks, but that’s something being used on Jeanty this year. And in just the last hour, things have changed dramatically– the Chicago Bears are now a sizable favorite to cap Jeanty, at number 10 overall. Chicago is yet another team in need of an RB, but unlike the Jags and Raiders, they just need one. The Bears already have D’Andre Swift in the RB1 slot, and he’s pretty good except when QB Caleb Williams isn’t. This isn’t about CW, however. With a carefully calculated Jeanty selection, the Bears may vastly improve their similarly weak rushing attack.
Just hope that Caleb can at least work with him and Swift doesn’t completely get put out of a job. I personally wouldn’t wanna see the Bears beef another would be solid RB just because the QB still doesn’t know what he’s doing.
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