Ashton Jeanty knew he was going to be joining the Las Vegas Raiders long before he stepped onto the draft stage to hold up a silver-and-black jersey after hearing his name called in the first round on Thursday night. And the hint Jeanty received came from an unlikely source: Raiders general manager John Spytek's son.
A month before the draft, Spytek, during a March appearance on SiriusXM Radio, joked that his oldest son gave him an ultimatum to draft Jeanty, and even went so far as to involve Raiders owner Mark Davis.
"My son has made it no secret that if we don't pick Ashton Jeanty at No. 6 that he's walking out of the family and he's gonna find somebody else, probably whoever takes Ashton," Spytek said at the time. "He walked right into our building and basically told [owner] Mark Davis 'If my dad doesn’t take Ashton Jeanty, he's doing a bad job.’”
Jeanty, who was selected by the Raiders with the sixth overall pick in the draft, told reporters that he knew he was destined for Las Vegas when he saw the anecdote about Spytek's son pop up on his social media feed.
"Uh, you know, it made me laugh really hard," Jeanty said. "But once I seen that come out on social media, I'm like, 'Man, there's no way they're not gonna pick me at No. 6 if I'm still there.' "
And while Spytek made it clear that he would have risked it all for the best player available even if it wasn't Jeanty, the Raiders GM still admitted that he's happy things worked out the way they did.
"No I did not give Jack a heads up," Spytek told reporters after the Raiders' selection of Jeanty. "He was very excited. So I'm happy I still have both my sons in my house and expected to move to Vegas this summer. For all the reasons I said before, fantasy football points and getting a jersey—he's pretty excited."
"I would like to say, that has nothing to do with why we picked him. Just so you know. I was willing to risk it if that's what it took to get the best player, but it all aligned."
No matter the reason, the Raiders landed one of the best players in the draft in Jeanty, who finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting while tallying the second-most rushing yards in a single season in FBS history in 2024. And this whole situation just goes to show that the sons of NFL GMs are increasingly making their voices heard vis-à-vis the draft.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ashton Jeanty Knew the Raiders Would Draft Him After GM's Son's Shocking Ultimatum.
