Boise State Professional Athletes

The Scare

Boise State fans held their breath for most of the week. On Sunday, Aug. 23, Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty was helped off the practice field unable to bear weight on his right leg after landing awkwardly during a training camp drill. The images were jarring — a second-year back who had become the centerpiece of Las Vegas' offensive identity, suddenly being carted away with the regular season on the horizon.

The diagnosis landed hours later: a sprained ankle. Not the torn ligament nightmare the worst-case speculation had conjured, but serious enough that Jeanty missed significant practice time through the week and set off a flurry of contingency planning around the league.

The Fallout

Head coach Klint Kubiak was characteristically tight-lipped in the immediate aftermath. Asked Tuesday for clarity on Jeanty's severity, Kubiak offered little, saying only that the running back was "on the mend." The vagueness fueled speculation — fantasy managers scrambled, trade proposal think-pieces multiplied, and Cowboys fans briefly re-emerged to float Maxx Crosby trade rumors, apparently as a response to the Raiders' perceived vulnerability.

Jeanty's backup, rookie Mike Washington Jr., suddenly found himself in the spotlight. With the Raiders thin at the position behind their star, Washington became the subject of genuine depth-chart scrutiny for the first time in his young pro career.

The Relief

By the time Las Vegas wrapped up its preseason slate on Thursday, the tone had shifted. Kubiak stated plainly: "We're counting on Ashton Jeanty for Week 1." That declaration, more than anything else from the week, gave Bronco Nation the exhale it had been waiting for.

Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, enters his second season with expectations that go well beyond raw rushing numbers. He arrived in Las Vegas as a Heisman finalist who rewrote the Boise State record book, and the Raiders built their offensive identity around him from day one. The Year 2 bar, per reporting this week, centers on rounding out his game — improved pass protection, expanded route running, and cementing his status as a complete backfield weapon rather than just an elite ball carrier.

The ankle sprain is a reminder of how fragile those plans can be. But for now, the prognosis is good, the coaching staff is confident, and the former Bronco is expected to be under the lights for the Raiders' Week 1 opener. The scare was real. The relief, for the moment, is too.

Boise State's NFL footprint is impossible to ignore this preseason. Three Bronco alumni are driving legitimate storylines heading into the 2026 campaign — one as a centerpiece of a rebuild, one as a safety net in a crisis, and one quietly working his way back.

Jeanty and Bowers: The Raiders' One-Two Punch

Las Vegas isn't hiding its blueprint. According to Yahoo Sports, running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers are projected as the Raiders' top two scoring threats this season, alongside quarterback Kirk Cousins and the team's kicker. For a franchise that has spent years cycling through offensive identities, leaning on two former Boise State standouts to carry the scoring load is a striking bet — and a testament to how quickly both players have established themselves at the pro level.

Jeanty, the electric rookie sensation who turned heads throughout his debut season, is expected to handle the bulk of the backfield work. Bowers, already one of the most productive tight ends in the league, gives Cousins a reliable check-down and red-zone weapon. Together, they represent the most concentrated Bronco influence on any single NFL roster right now.

Rypien Steps Into a Crisis Role in Houston

Meanwhile, in Houston, Brett Rypien is suiting up for a very different kind of opportunity. The Texans signed the veteran journeyman as an emergency backup after rookie Graham Mertz suffered a shocking season-ending ACL injury, leaving C.J. Stroud with virtually no experienced insurance behind him. Per The Sporting News, Rypien was brought in specifically to stabilize that depth chart.

It's the kind of role Rypien has carved out across his NFL career — the steady veteran who knows a playbook, won't panic, and gives a coaching staff something to lean on if the worst happens. In Houston, with a legitimate Super Bowl contender built around Stroud, the hope is that Rypien never sees meaningful action. But his presence matters, and landing with a contending team in a backup role beats sitting outside the league entirely.

Bates Battles Back in Washington

On the injury front, John Bates is trending in the right direction for Washington. The Commanders tight end is set to return to practice after missing time, according to Yahoo Sports, providing Dan Quinn's offense with another option at the position as the preseason winds down.

Separately, fellow Commander Jeremy McNichols has been sidelined and the team has already moved to add a replacement running back, a sign that his availability for the start of the regular season remains uncertain.

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Four Broncos. Four different situations. But the marquee storyline belongs to Las Vegas, where Jeanty and Bowers aren't just roster pieces — they're the offensive identity of a franchise trying to claw its way back into relevance. For Boise State fans, the Raiders might be the easiest second team to root for in 2026.

Three Broncos Making Noise in NFL Preseason

Boise State's fingerprints are all over the NFL this preseason — and the stories couldn't be more different. One legend is riding off into the sunset. One ascending star is about to get even more dangerous. And one long shot just introduced himself to the league in the most cinematic way possible.

DeMarcus Lawrence: One Last Ride

After a Super Bowl ring with the Seattle Seahawks capped a career that began in Dallas, DeMarcus Lawrence has made it official: 2026 will be his last season in the NFL. The veteran edge rusher, who won the championship with Seattle last year, told Yahoo Sports he thought hard about retiring after the 2025 campaign — but decided to give it one more year before returning home to Dallas, where his wife Sasha and six children are waiting.

Lawrence spent the bulk of his career terrorizing quarterbacks as a Cowboy before finishing it in Seattle. A Super Bowl sendoff is as good a final act as any player could script, and Lawrence appears to be approaching this season with clear-eyed intention rather than reluctance. When he hangs it up, he'll leave behind one of the better careers ever produced by a Bronco.

Ashton Jeanty: The Full Package

If Lawrence is the farewell story, Ashton Jeanty is the future — and the future is expanding fast. Reports out of Las Vegas indicate the second-year back is expected to take on a significantly larger role in the Raiders' passing game in 2026, a development that tracks with new head coach Klint Kubiak's offensive philosophy. Jeanty himself has called Kubiak's system "different in a good way," and with a volume increase in carries also expected, the Raiders appear to be handing their offense to the former Boise State standout almost wholesale.

That's a notable evolution for a player who already turned heads as a rookie. Becoming a dual-threat weapon — dangerous as a runner and a pass-catcher — would put Jeanty in a completely different tier of NFL backs and give Las Vegas an offensive centerpiece they haven't had in years.

Ahmed Hassanein: Dream Deferred, Then Delivered Immediately

Nobody had a better week than Ahmed Hassanein. The Detroit Lions defensive end not only made his first NFL preseason snap count — he made it legendary. Hassanein had publicly talked about wanting to sack Joe Burrow, and when the Lions faced the Bengals in the preseason opener, with Detroit's starters sitting, Hassanein walked onto the field and did exactly that on his very first professional rep.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell, never one to undersell a moment, said afterward that he felt Hassanein "would come out and make plays." That's high praise for a player working to earn a roster spot, and a sack on snap one is about as convincing an audition as the league will see this preseason. For a Boise State program that has punched above its weight in developing NFL talent for years, Hassanein's debut is exactly the kind of story that keeps recruits paying attention to what's happening in Idaho.

Three alumni, three completely different chapters — and all of them written in the span of a single preseason week.

Boise State's NFL footprint is larger than most fans realize, and this preseason two alumni are driving the conversation on opposite sides of the country — and the spectrum of expectations.

The Veteran Who Came Back

DeMarcus Lawrence didn't have to be here. After 12 NFL seasons, the five-time Pro Bowler capped his first year with the Seattle Seahawks by winning his first Super Bowl ring — a storybook moment that made retirement a legitimate conversation. He chose otherwise. Lawrence is back for a 13th season in Seattle, going full throttle in training camp, according to reports confirmed by his wife. At this stage of a career most players would have wrapped long ago, Lawrence's return says everything about his competitive fire and what the Seahawks see in him as a veteran presence on the edge.

The Sophomore Who Has a Point to Prove

Across the league, Ashton Jeanty is entering Year 2 with something to prove and the self-awareness to say it plainly. The 2025 first-round pick came to Las Vegas with enormous expectations — and by his own admission, his rookie season didn't meet them. That hasn't broken his confidence. Jeanty has publicly declared he will make a significant second-year leap, citing the arrival of Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza as reasons the Raiders' offense is better positioned to deploy him properly.

The pressure, though, isn't entirely on Jeanty. A FanSided analysis this week made the pointed argument that the Raiders organization needs to do its part — that an offensive line, scheme, and supporting cast that failed him in Year 1 cannot afford a repeat if Jeanty is going to develop into the star his draft pedigree promises. Pro Football Talk reinforced the stakes, noting that Jeanty himself has internalized the leadership burden: "The expectation is for me to lead, so I have to make a big jump." That kind of accountability from a second-year back is either a sign of elite maturity or a pressure cooker — probably both.

Others Worth Watching

Beyond the two headliners, several Broncos are quietly working their way into preseason roster battles. In Detroit, defensive end Ahmed Hassanein drew a mention in Yahoo Sports' Lions defensive bubble tracker as a player whose camp performance has turned heads after one week — a notable signal for a player fighting for a roster spot on a Super Bowl contender.

In Washington, tight end John Bates is part of an interesting offensive design conversation. A Yahoo Sports breakdown of how the Commanders could deploy 12 and 13 personnel this season puts Bates alongside Chigoziem Okonkwo and Ben Sinnott in a tight end rotation that could see real usage under coordinator David Blough's system.

Khalil Shakir (Bills), Alexander Mattison (Dolphins), and George Holani (Seahawks) round out a loaded Bronco alumni roster across the league, though none generated specific headlines this week.

The throughline across all of it: Boise State continues to punch well above its recruiting weight in NFL talent production. Lawrence represents the ceiling — a decade-plus career capped by a championship. Jeanty is the next test of whether the program can develop a generational backfield talent into a true NFL star. Camp will tell us more.