Raiders' Ashton Jeanty 'on the mend,' but Kubiak won't touch the IR question
Las Vegas' head coach declined repeatedly to detail Ashton Jeanty's injury or rule out a stint on injured reserve, saying only that the second-year back is recovering and the team is counting on him.
The Las Vegas Raiders are keeping a deliberate shroud over Ashton Jeanty's injury. Head coach Klint Kubiak fielded repeated questions about the second-year running back on Tuesday and refused each time to go beyond a three-word status report: "He's on the mend."
Ryan McFadden (@ryanmcfadden_): #Raiders HC Klint Kubiak didn't want to go into any details on running back Ashton Jeanty's injury Tuesday. When asked about the severity of Jeanty's injury or if the second-year player will begin the season on the IR, Kubiak simply said, "He's on the mend." More on Kubiak's remarks on Jeanty. ⤵️
Pressed specifically on whether Jeanty could open the season on injured reserve, Kubiak again declined, saying only "I'm not going to talk about injuries." He did offer one revealing image from the moment it happened — that Jeanty got hurt in practice and the entire team took a knee around him, which the coach called a sign of how much the group is counting on him.
Sam Warren (@samwarren83): Kubiak on if Jeanty could start the season on injured reserve: "I'm not going to talk about injuries. He's on the mend."
In Jeanty's absence, Mike Washington Jr. has been taking most of the first-team running back reps, with Dylan Laube and Dare Ogunbowale mixing in. The silence itself is information: as one Las Vegas reporter noted, neither the team nor the player gains anything from revealing details right now, and a season-ending issue would almost certainly have leaked by now — but nothing about the IR question has actually been ruled out.
Jeanty, drafted in 2025, remains the centerpiece of the Las Vegas offense, so how this recovery progresses over the next week matters far more than any preseason finale snap count. The roster deadline Sunday will force some clarity whether the Raiders like it or not.