Raiders considering bold decision with Ashton Jeanty that star RB want's no part of

2 weeks ago 77

The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-2 on the season and have dropped their last two matchups to the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots.

One of the reasons for the team's struggles lately has been the lack of a robust running game. Star running back Ashton Jeanty, while he's still a good player, is currently dealing with an ankle injury that is clearly limiting him right now.

After fighting his way to stay on the field in Week 5, the Raiders, according to Dan Graziano of ESPN, might make a bold decision with Jeanty. According to Graziano, the Raiders are considering benching Jeanty to give him time to rest and heal.

Raiders considering benching Ashton Jeanty for one week

"The Raiders have internally discussed giving Jeanty a week off to heal at some point," Graziano writes. "He does not want to take a week off and has pushed to play through the injuries."

Jeanty is trying to play through injury right now, but the Raiders are considering forcing him to ride the bench and be inactive for one week to ensure he's as close to fully healthy as possible going forward.

By sticking with Jeanty every week, despite his injury issue, the Raiders might be prolonging his ankle injury's impact on his production.

But even if the Raiders are interested in giving him a week off, the Raiders' running back has no plans to rest for a week. Jeanty doesn't want to come off the field, even if it might be in his best interest long-term.

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Graziano notes that, with the Week 13 bye for the Raiders, "there may come a week in the near future where they decide the best thing for Jeanty and for the team is to rest him."

Mike Washington Jr. and Dylan Laube are suitable backups and would be a fine duo for a week or two, depending on how long the Raiders plan to rest Jeanty.

If the Raiders want to rest him for a week, doing so in Week 6 or Week 7 would make the most sense. It would be enough time before the bye that it could act as an early bye week for Jeanty to keep him fresh for the long season.

While the Raiders might be mulling the decision to bench him for a week, Jeanty has no interest in missing a week. This is going to be an interesting situation to follow, as the Raiders might sit Jeanty for a week, even though he doesn't want to miss any time.