NFL Analysis
10/28/24
6 min read
Ashton Jeanty 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Boise State Broncos RB
Height: 5-foot-9 (unofficial)
Weight: 215 pounds (unofficial)
Year: True Junior
Pro Comparison: An angrier DeAngelo Williams
Scouting Overview
Jeanty is undoubtedly one of the best players eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft when you disregard positional value. This highly productive running back creates a ton of added value to his touches thanks to an elite ability to create yards after contact and is capable of hitting home run carries through traffic.
Jeanty showcases top-tier vision and contact balance while offering a sufficient skill set on passing downs, making him a viable option for any kind of offensive system, be it outside zone or gap-principled.
Most importantly, his well-rounded resume should allow him to offer the kind of snap usage that will be required to justify a selection in the 1st-round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Elite contact balance and pad level for added yards after contact
- Terrific vision to make subtle adjustments on his rushing track and maintain momentum
- Patience pressing the line of scrimmage to force defenders to declare into gaps
Negatives
- Room for growth in pass protection consistency
- Very good but not elite breakaway speed
- 2023 ball security was an issue (five fumbles on plays from scrimmage)
Background
Jeanty was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and played high school football at Lone Star High School (Texas). His military family took him to many places before he landed in Boise, including a three-year stint overseas in Italy prior to his enrollment at Lone Star HS.
At Lone Star HS, he was rated as a 4-star recruit (247 Sports) while playing as a 3-sport athlete (football, track & field, and basketball). By his senior season, Jeanty had logged significant playing time on both sides of the ball as a safety, linebacker, and wide receiver before being given the primary running back role. He obliged by scoring 41 total touchdowns. Jeanty finished his high school career with less than 400 career touches.
In addition to Boise State, Jeanty received offers from programs such as Kansas, Cal, and all three service academies.
Jeanty has no documented significant injuries on his resume.
Tale of The Tape
Jeanty is a throwback to prior generations of NFL running backs — he’s a “do it all” threat that a team could easily justify 300+ touches for on an annual basis. The game appears to move in slow motion for Jeanty, who illustrates the kind of elite vision in the box and when stretching the point of attack with perimeter runs that allow him to manipulate defenders and create creases in the running game. Jeanty pairs that vision with strong patience and precise feet.
On zone runs, Jeanty is highly skilled in pressing to the heels of his blockers before declaring himself into a gap, trusting his ability to reignite his forward burst and waiting out linebackers to force them to choose whether they will attempt to run under blockers or scrape over the top before Jeanty cuts against their path.
He is decisive with his cuts and puts faith in his feet, adjusting on steep angles or, alternatively, making slight adjustments out of the mesh point to redirect away from penetration and hit gaps quickly if a crease is present. Those feet stay active in traffic to create additional push and sustain his leg drive.
Jeanty's compact frame naturally offers him leverage at first contact. It makes him a difficult player to get underneath when he’s coming downhill. Still, he also showcases anticipation of hits and braces for contact to make his strike window even smaller and more difficult for defenders to sync up.
Those who would opt to cut him down low in the open field have been made to look silly on more than one occasion, as Jeanty has a nasty hurdle move that allows him to clear smaller defenders in the secondary who know they can’t thump pads with him 1-on-1.
When Jeanty hits the open field, he illustrates the necessary burst to break angles in space and convert those opportunities into long-run touchdowns. He has been caught from behind occasionally, but player tracking data has suggested he's capable of breaking into speeds of up to 21mph in a live-game setting — plenty of acceleration and long speed for the next level.
Jeanty’s passing game skill set is impressive, as well. His former high school pedigree as a slot receiver is apparent with his ball skills—he makes good adjustments to the football and showcases comfortable hands. Boise used him into the flats as an early progression, aligned him on the boundary, and ran perimeter screens with him. They've also tried to get Jeanty the football in more traditional running back screen reps.
Pass protection is still a work in progress, but his dense frame and appetite for contact are attractive elements that have allowed him to aggressively stick his nose into second-level pressures and wash defenders into traffic to keep throwing lanes open and the pocket intact. His consistency, particularly in larger areas of space, to square up rushers is an area of improvement to focus on. That said, I believe he is functional in this capacity now, and it should not be a barrier to playing time early in his career.
Jeanty showed growth in ball security during his second season as the primary runner in 2024, but he did have six credited fumbles in 2023 despite playing in just 12 games. One such play came on an onside kick scrum, but the other five were all fumbles on plays from scrimmage in which Jeanty was fighting for extra yardage. Ball security can be a non-linear issue, so continued focus in this phase as a physical, after-contact runner is absolutely a point of focus.
Overall, Jeanty’s explosiveness in short spaces, his vision and patience as a ball carrier, his physicality as a runner in all phases, and his capability to contribute in all phases of the offense should have him well-primed to be the top running back from the 2025 class and offer him the opportunity to be a featured centerpiece of an NFL offense for years to come.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Primary ball carrier in a run-diverse offense. This is a universal prospect who offers the ability to win between the tackles, outside the numbers, and in the passing game.
Grade: 88.50/100.00, First Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: RB1
