Raiders rookie RB Mike Washington Jr. brings power, speed, tenacity

Las Vegas Raiders rookie running back Mike Washington Jr. is drawing attention for his blend of power, speed and tenacity. “Downhill runner. Punishing backmost that’s capable to tally you over, capable to marque you miss and past erstwhile you get to the 2nd level, hard to catch.” Washington Jr. stood 6‑foot‑2‑inches tall and weighed 228 pounds during a Tuesday session at the Intermountain Health Performance Center, just hours before the Raiders held their national sign‑in at Allegiant Stadium. The workout highlighted how he has been handling carries in his first two weeks of professional camp. A fourth‑round draft pick from Arkansas, he averaged 6.4 yards per carry last season for 1,070 yards and is expected to complement Ashton Jeanty with power, velocity and tenacity. So far, mostly working with the second‑team offense and receiving occasional first‑team repetitions, Washington Jr. runs the ball with force and welcomes contact at the point of attack. He also flashes breakaway speed, posting the fastest 40‑yard dash among this year’s rookie class at 4.33 seconds, a mark set at the NFL’s annual scouting combine. “Obviously, he’s got large burst. Good footwork,” Jeanty said past period of Washington Jr. “He’s continuing to get amended each and each azygous day. I emotion what I’m seeing from him and he’s continuing to up the modular successful the moving backmost country and assistance marque it a amended room.” Jeanty, the No. 6 pick from the previous year, is slated to serve as the Raiders’ bell‑cow back and is projected to carry a majority of the workload as both a ballcarrier and a pass‑catcher out of the backfield. He rushed for 975 yards last season, averaging 57.4 yards per game, while the second‑leading tailback, Raheem Mostert, contributed 104 yards at 8.7 yards per game. At 23 years old, Washington Jr. is 11 years younger than Jeanty’s former backup. He spent three seasons at Buffalo before spending one year each at New Mexico State and Arkansas. Asked about how their skill sets mesh, Jeanty said, “I deliberation conscionable being 2 large rushers. It’s ever large to travel retired the crippled and person different feline travel successful determination and there’s nary driblet down. I genuinely judge he’ll beryllium capable to assistance america triumph immoderate games.” Washington Jr. explained that he “started disconnected slow” learning offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s zone‑run (and play‑action) system, but has since grown comfortable in training camp, underscoring his stature with decisiveness. He said his focus is on “really conscionable being physical” and “coming successful and moving with a carnal mindset” because “when you tally with a carnal mindset, cipher wants to tackle me, particularly being a bigger back, cipher truly wants to woody with that physicality.” As the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl‑winning Seattle Seahawks last season, Kubiak balanced the carries between Kenneth Walker (221 attempts in 17 games) and Zach Charbonnet (184 attempts in 16 games before a season‑ending injury), helping the unit rank 10th in the league for rushing efficiency. “Mike’s a feline that’s travel successful and has grown a batch since OTAs,” Kubiak remarked. “I spot a self‑motivated young antheral that knows there’s a batch of large shot up of him and has a agelong mode to go, but a antheral that’s consenting to enactment successful the work.” With power, velocity and tenacity, Washington Jr. appears poised to make an impact in Las Vegas.