Ashton Jeanty could become just the third running back since 2018 to be drafted in the top 10 of the 2025 NFL Draft. Just don’t tell your Dallas Cowboys fan friends that. They hold the No. 12 pick and have been linked early and often to the Boise State Heisman runner-up since the conclusion of the NFL and NCAA seasons.
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Dallas was without a true lead running back for much of last season. Rico Dowdle did step up toward the end of the campaign with a few 100-yard games, but he’s no bell-cow. The Cowboys need a bona fide RB1 to make their offense hum. Much like when they had Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard in the backfield. That’s why many believe the Cowboys will pull the trigger on Jeanty if he is still there when their pick comes up.
The Cowboys have more on their mind than the draft right now, however. This week they re-signed premier defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to a four-year, $80 million deal rather than placing the franchise tag on him. Now flush with cash, Odighizuwa is ready to focus on a winning formula, and he thinks adding Jeanty would improve their offense by making it multi-dimensional.
“That’d be awesome (to pick Jeanty). I think a great run game and a great pass game go hand in hand. If you can run and pass the ball, it makes it easier on everybody. Being one-dimensional, is really easy for a defender to play against, if I know exactly what you’re gonna do. Whether it be running all the time, or passing the ball all the time, or if I know you struggle with one, it just makes it that much easier,” he said.
"That would be AWESOME."
Osa Odighizuwa on if the Cowboys were to draft RB @AshtonJeanty2 with the no. 12 pick 😏@heykayadams @dallascowboys @Osagoeshard pic.twitter.com/oAP4UDU1ls
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) March 5, 2025
Odighizuwa’s hope that Jeanty ends up with the Cowboys could very well come to fruition. The oddsmakers in Vegas have the Cowboys leading the pack in terms of the probability of drafting Jeanty, at +260 odds. The Las Vegas Raiders and Chicago Bears follow close behind with +320 odds, and the Denver Broncos sit 4th with +700 odds.
On top of that, owner Jerry Jones said that he wouldn’t be aggressive in free agency. He declared that he didn’t look at that period as a time to “fill voids“, which suggests he won’t be signing any big-name veteran RBs to come in. That increases the likelihood of them targeting Jeanty on April 25 in Green Bay.
However, they are somewhat at the mercy of the teams ahead of them. While Dane Brugler’s latest mock draft for The Athletic has Jeanty falling to Dallas at No. 12, both ESPN and PFF have mocked the Boise State alum to the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 6 in their latest predictions.
Jeanty is exactly the type of splashy pick the Davis family loves to make in the first round. But that would also mean they forgo Shedeur Sanders, another pretty splashy option.
When Vegas released QB Gardner Minshew II, it seemingly created space in the QB room for a rookie to step in. However, general manager John Spytek has emphasized building through the trenches like the Eagles, making it hard to predict their direction. They have also been linked to a few veteran QB free agents, and if they sign one, Jeanty would be theirs to lose.
Ashton Jeanty may have been snubbed for the Heisman in some eyes. But there’s no debating what kind of weapon he can be in the NFL. 2,601 yards and 29 TDs on 7.0 yards-a-carry don’t just happen by accident.
Whether it’s the Raiders or Cowboys, whoever drafts him is getting a stud. Jeanty could be yet another cog in the “Make RBs Great Again” campaign that was started by a handful of veteran NFL RBs that switched teams last offseason.
