After being drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders, star running back Ashton Jeanty noted that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly wanted him to be lower in his stance pre-snap.
In college, Jeanty always stood straight up in the backfield. The first-round pick said that Kelly wanted him to get lower and bend his knees a bit.
During his Thursday afternoon Raiders press conference, Kelly was asked about this exchange and about altering Jeanty’s pre-snap stance.
Raiders OC Chip Kelly Sets The Record Straight On Ashton Jeanty
“Let’s get that clarified,” Kelly said during his press conference. “Deland McCullough, our running back coach, is in charge of stances, steps, alignments, assignments, and techniques. So he talked to him about that. I gave him an analogy of an athlete being in a bent-knee position to make a play, and that kind of got blown into. I haven’t told anybody on this team to be in any stances because I don’t coach a position. But it’s a bent-knee game.”
“If you look at the before the ball snapped in baseball, or the pitcher throwing the baseball, everybody’s got their knees bent. In any athletic sport you’re playing, you’ve got to bend your knees. And if you’ve got to run a flat route on Fred Warner, you’d better be in a position to run, because that dude can fly. So, all we’re trying to do is put guys in positions to make plays.”
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Kelly went on to praise Jeanty and reiterate that this is not a big deal at all.
“So, I really don’t think it’s that big a deal. But he’s awesome, and he’s such a coachable guy that you can do a lot of things with him. I think he can play in the slot, he can play in the backfield, he can do a lot of different things. So, he’s special.”
Ashton Jeanty was the best running back in college, and while he played at Boise State, he faced off against plenty of elite competition.
Against Oregon in Eugene, he ran for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns. In the College Football Playoff against Penn State, he finished with 104 yards.
Jeanty will have the ability to be the Raiders’ starting running back in Week 1 and will be a legit Rookie of the Year candidate.
Will his pre-snap stance matter that much? I guess we will find out.