NFL draft prospect Ashton Jeanty believes he’s the next Saquon Barkley: ‘That can be me’

Ashton Jeanty has all the confidence in the world.

So much so that he believes he can be as good as the NFL’s 2024 rushing leader.

Jeanty, one of the top running backs slated to be drafted next week, said he envisions himself in the same vain as Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley.

The former Boise State back wrote as much in a letter to NFL general managers in The Players’ Tribune on Wednesday.

“Most people, they watched the Eagles win the Super Bowl a couple of months ago, they watched Saquon run through everyone in the playoffs, and they thought to themselves, ‘This is amazing,’” Jeanty wrote. “I watched it and I thought something different. I thought, ‘That can be me.’ … I’ve taken the long way. I’m done with that way. If you pick me, it’s simple: I’m coming to your franchise to do what Saquon and the Eagles just did. I’m coming to win, big, soon.”

One season after leading the Mountain West Conference in rushing yards, Jeanty took the college football world by storm in 2024 when he led the NCAA with 2,601 yards to go along with 29 touchdowns on the ground.

He finished second in the Heisman race to receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter and won the Maxwell Award the as the nation’s top running back.

Jeanty, an All-America first team member, could go in the top 10 this year, as ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has him going at No. 6 to the Raiders in his latest mock draft.

“I truly believe I was born to do this. And I truly believe what makes me different — it isn’t about the position I line up at. It’s about the mindset I bring to it,” Jeanty added.

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Stephen Collopy

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