Obvious looming threat could rob Cowboys chances at Ashton Jeanty after Wild Card defeat

Ashton Jeanty will force a lot of NFL scouts to confront their own biases and preconceived notions.

On the surface, it's bad value to pick a running back in the first round, almost without fail. On the other hand, Jeanty is a singular talent. He feels like the exception to the rule — a generational playmaker who can instantly provide a new element to any offense.

Few teams more desperately need help at RB than the Dallas Cowboys, who watched an incredibly talented crop of RBs pass them by in 2024. Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley. All were available to Dallas in free agency, but Jerry Jones went for the corpse of Ezekiel Elliott instead. Because of course he did.

Ideally, the Cowboys would solve the RB problem once and for all with Jeanty, who should dominate backfield touches for the next five years at least. That said, other teams are bound to take an interest in the Heisman runner-up, who racked up 2,739 yards and 30 touchdowns from scrimmage as a junior.

Among the potential landing spots for the Boise State halfback? The Pittsburgh Steelers, whose run game hit a wall in an embarrassing 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.

Steelers could leapfrog Cowboys to land top NFL Draft RB Ashton Jeanty

The Steelers ran for a grand total of 29 yards in Saturday's Wild Card loss to the Ravens. Najee Harris, in quite possibly his final game with Pittsburgh, carried the football six times for 17 yards — 2.7 per carry. Jaylen Warren received two carries for six yards, while Russell Wilson scrambled thrice for the other six yards.

Harris is a free agent this summer. The Steelers have been trending away from him for a while. Warren is a compelling talent, but he's better suited to RB2, change-of-pace duties. He should not be tabbed as the primary workhorse in Pittsburgh.

With such minimal certainty at the quarterback position, the Steelers need a bankable run game to prop this offense up. Especially with Arthur Smith at the commands. We've seen Smith tank a highly-touted RB prospect before (see: Robinson, Bijan) but even if Pittsburgh is hellbent on spreading the wealth, Jeanty would force his way to significant touches and an immediate impact.

Jeanty averaged 7.0 yards per carry this past season. He will face stiffer defenses at the next level, but you'd be hard-pressed to find even an NFL running back who's better at shedding tackles and operating elusively in traffic. Jeanty is a jitterbug and a tank, all wrapped into one. He can plow through defenders just as easily as he sidesteps them. The Steelers would finally have another high-wattage offensive star to develop in tandem with George Pickens.

The Steelers are currently slated to pick 21st, which is nine spots behind Dallas, but a trade up — or the Cowboys deciding to wait until the second round to address the RB hole — could put Jeanty in a Steelers uniform. That would surely upset Cowboys fans, who appear to be ordering their Jeanty jerseys ahead of time.

It's fair to wonder if the Cowboys should make Jeanty the 12th overall pick — or if the Steelers should burn resources to move up for a running back — but, if the Boise State superstar winds up somewhere other than Dallas, there will be folks who are profoundly, and understandably, disappointed.