The Las Vegas Raiders made Ashton Jeanty the highest drafted running back since Saquon Barkley when they selected him with the 6th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. And before ever stepping foot onto a professional field, he has been made into one of the highest paid players at his position.
Ashton Jeanty Already One Of The Higest Paid NFL Running Backs
Jeanty bucked a trend this year. The running back position had lost some of its luster in the NFL in recent seasons, as salaries plateaued and more teams employed a tandem backfield strategy. But thanks perhaps to the impact of Barkley and Derrick Henry with their new teams in 2024, Jeanty was considered to be one of the top prospects in the draft class of 2025, and the Raiders made it so with their top-10 pick.
The NFL rookie wage scale for 2025 immediately makes Jeanty one of the highest paid running backs in the league. The 6th overall pick carries a value of $35.8 million this year, which will stretch over a four-year period. That gives Jeanty an average of $8.9 million for his first handful of seasons, which ranks 10th among current running backs.
But the overall value of $35.8 million is the 6th largest contract at the position heading into the 2025 season, just slightly behind the overall values of Rhamondre Stevenson and Christian McCaffrey.
The Raiders are hoping that Ashton Jeanty will help them turn their running game around. The team finished dead last in the NFL in total rushing yards in 2024, with the team leader mustering just 420 yards. Their bottom-tier offensive line certainly wasn’t a big help in the category, but a backfield upgrade was badly needed.
Jeanty was easily the top running back prospect in 2025. He led the nation in rushing yards by a long shot, putting up roughly 900 more than the next highest total, and was within 30 yards of the breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season record. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, which many believed that he should have won over Travis Hunter.
