Washington Jr. Is the Plan Now, Not the Backup Plan

Ashton Jeanty is still listed questionable heading into Week 5, and at this point the foot issue has been around long enough that Las Vegas has to treat Washington Jr. as the starter in everything but name. That's a different conversation than the one I was having two weeks ago, when the question was whether he could handle a game. Now the question is whether he can handle a role.

The depth chart still has Jeanty third at running back behind Dylan Laube and Owen Wright, which tells you something about how the roster has reshuffled while this has dragged on. Washington Jr. showed enough in August — Kubiak used the word "phenomenal," which is not a word coaches throw around in preseason — that the Raiders built him into their contingency thinking early. The contingency is now the plan.

What the Raiders can't afford is for this to quietly hollow out the run game while Bowers and Tucker carry the passing attack. Jeanty was the ground threat that kept defenses honest last year, and without a credible replacement, play-action loses teeth. Washington Jr. getting the work is fine. Washington Jr. getting the work against a defense that knows Jeanty isn't out there is a different assignment.