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The Las Vegas Raiders are playing their cards close to the vest – sort of.
General manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll met with the media for their pre-draft press conference on Friday, discussing how things look heading into the first round.
The Raiders are widely expected to draft Boise State running back and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick.
Vegas took care of their quarterback need by trading for Geno Smith and are now looking to add playmakers, where Jeanty is arguably the headliner.
As expected, they were asked about the running back.
"I'm going to be careful talking about any specific player," Spytek said.
"We just saw Saquon Barkley just change the Eagles in one year," Spytek said. "Now they had a great team around him and it was adding an elite player. And I think when you sit where we sit, the idea is to add elite players at any position. I don't try to devalue any certain position. There's times in games where there's nobody you'd rather have than the best kicker in the league, too, in that moment."
Spytek then transformed his overarching point into making a statement on the value of running backs.
"There's certain ways to build a team and I just don't know where got to a place where we don't feel like running backs are valued," Spytek said. "I come from the University of Michigan. It's in my core. Those guys were certainly really valued there. It's hard for me to get away from that."
Running back value has been a hot topic in recent years, especially in the offseason.
The position has been cheapened in the draft, pushing talent out of the first round and making contracts harder to come by at times.
Le'Veon Bell famously held out attempting to make a statement in an attempt to change the way the league viewed the position. While Bell cashed in with the New York Jets, that hasn't always been the case for everyone else.
Teams are set to spend an average of just $10.85 million in average annual value (AAV) this season on running backs, the lowest of any non-special teams position, according to Spotrac.
Only six players at the position are set to earn at least $10 million in AAV in 2025.
Spytek might like running backs and value the position, but the league's spending doesn't align with his idea. Even his team ranks 21st in AAV spending on running backs in 2025. That could easily change at the draft, but Vegas hasn't really added to that position group since he took over earlier this offseason.
While Spytek didn't want to elaborate on specific players, he did reveal his feelings toward the position and that seemingly reflects on Jeanty.
Now the waiting game begins to see if the Raiders will make the Boise State running back their pick when the party begins on Thursday, April 24.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Raiders GM John Spytek discusses Ashton Jeanty, RBs, positional value
Continue reading...
General manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll met with the media for their pre-draft press conference on Friday, discussing how things look heading into the first round.
The Raiders are widely expected to draft Boise State running back and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick.
Vegas took care of their quarterback need by trading for Geno Smith and are now looking to add playmakers, where Jeanty is arguably the headliner.
As expected, they were asked about the running back.
"I'm going to be careful talking about any specific player," Spytek said.
"We just saw Saquon Barkley just change the Eagles in one year," Spytek said. "Now they had a great team around him and it was adding an elite player. And I think when you sit where we sit, the idea is to add elite players at any position. I don't try to devalue any certain position. There's times in games where there's nobody you'd rather have than the best kicker in the league, too, in that moment."
Spytek then transformed his overarching point into making a statement on the value of running backs.
"There's certain ways to build a team and I just don't know where got to a place where we don't feel like running backs are valued," Spytek said. "I come from the University of Michigan. It's in my core. Those guys were certainly really valued there. It's hard for me to get away from that."
Running back value has been a hot topic in recent years, especially in the offseason.
The position has been cheapened in the draft, pushing talent out of the first round and making contracts harder to come by at times.
Le'Veon Bell famously held out attempting to make a statement in an attempt to change the way the league viewed the position. While Bell cashed in with the New York Jets, that hasn't always been the case for everyone else.
Teams are set to spend an average of just $10.85 million in average annual value (AAV) this season on running backs, the lowest of any non-special teams position, according to Spotrac.
Only six players at the position are set to earn at least $10 million in AAV in 2025.
Spytek might like running backs and value the position, but the league's spending doesn't align with his idea. Even his team ranks 21st in AAV spending on running backs in 2025. That could easily change at the draft, but Vegas hasn't really added to that position group since he took over earlier this offseason.
While Spytek didn't want to elaborate on specific players, he did reveal his feelings toward the position and that seemingly reflects on Jeanty.
Now the waiting game begins to see if the Raiders will make the Boise State running back their pick when the party begins on Thursday, April 24.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Raiders GM John Spytek discusses Ashton Jeanty, RBs, positional value
Continue reading...
