The Raiders have started building the next version of their backfield, trading up on Day 3 to take Mike Washington Jr. in the fourth round, then adding Roman Hemby as a UDFA and Connor Heyward after four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The message is plain: Ashton Jeanty is still the lead back, but he is not being asked to carry the room alone.
That is why Marcus Allen is showing up in searches now. The Raiders are moving into 2026 with a running backs group that looks less like a one-man workload and more like a package of roles, and Jeanty is at the center of it after leading all rookies with 975 rushing yards and 1,321 scrimmage yards in 2025. He also caught 55 passes and scored five receiving touchdowns, tying Tre Tucker for the second-most scores on the team.
Washington brings the kind of profile that invites a defined touch plan. He is 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds, but he also ran a 4.33 40-yard dash with a 1.51 10-yard split at the Combine. He piled up 29 scrimmage touchdowns and nearly 3,000 rushing yards across Buffalo, New Mexico State and Arkansas, the sort of production that suggests short-yardage power without giving away much burst.
Hemby gives the Raiders another layer. He rushed for 2,347 yards and 22 touchdowns in four seasons at Maryland, then posted a career-high 1,120 yards at Indiana and helped the team reach a national championship. Heyward adds yet another piece after five scrimmage touchdowns in his career, and that trio points to a room built for different packages rather than one rigid pecking order.
That is also the friction inside the plan. Jeanty is expected to remain the lead back, yet the Raiders keep adding bodies who can change how the offense looks from snap to snap. Chris Collier is back on a reserve/future contract after part of last season on the practice squad, and Dylan Laube is still around after averaging 25.9 yards per kick return with 855 kick return yards, 10th in the league. The room now has runners, return help and a fullback-style option, which means touches will have to be earned in training camp rather than assumed from a depth chart.
Jeanty already sounds like a second-year player who knows what comes next. He said he is “just focusing in more on the details,” adding that reading the defense, understanding blocking and coverage, and repeating those reps are helping the game slow down. If that holds, the Raiders should get a more polished lead back in 2026. The question left for training camp is not whether Jeanty will be the focal point. It is how much of the rest of the backfield the Raiders are willing to use around him.
