Ashton Jeanty Compares Himself to Saquon Barkley in Letter to NFL GMs Before Draft

Boise State running back and Heisman finalist Ashton Jeanty wrote an open letter to NFL general managers published in the Players' Tribune on Wednesday.

Jeanty led that letter with a bold proclamation, noting that he can have the same impact for a team as running back Saquon Barkley just did for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

"Dear NFL GMs," Jeanty began.

"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.

"I watched it and I thought something different.

"I thought, That can be me."

Jeanty could very well be right, even though Barkley just set the record for the most yards from scrimmage in a season (including playoffs) with 2,504 alongside 20 total touchdowns. With Barkley leading the way, the Eagles went 17-3 over 20 games (including playoffs) and notably crushed the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs.

Barkley came into the NFL as the No. 2 pick in the draft (by the New York Giants) following a tremendous career at Penn State.

Likewise, Jeanty was a superstar himself, putting up eye-popping numbers (5,631 scrimmage yards and 56 touchdowns over 40 collegiate games. He notably had 2,739 yards and 30 scores in 2024 alone.

Jeanty led the Broncos to the No. 3 seed in the College Football Playoff. Before the CFP, Boise State went 12-1, with its lone loss a 37-34 defeat to an Oregon team that won the Big Ten and earned the playoff's No. 1 seed with a record of 13-0.

So Jeanty knows something about being the driving engine for not only an offense but a team. The Broncos rallied around Jeanty's excellence and enjoyed a tremendous season.

We'll see if that happens in the NFL down the road, but regardless, his prospects seem high at the moment. The latest B/R NFL Scouting Department mock draft has Jeanty going 10th to the Chicago Bears, while the big board has him as the No. 6 overall prospect. We'll see where he goes in the draft shortly with proceedings beginning from Green Bay on April 24.