The running back market in NFL free agency is outrageously deep, and one of the top names available was Las Vegas Raiders star Josh Jacobs. While the Raiders did their best to keep Jacobs in town, they ultimately ended up watching him leave, with the Green Bay Packers coming in and shockingly agreeing to a new deal with him.
Via Ian Rapoport:
“The Packers are expected to sign Josh Jacobs, source tell me and Tom Pelissero.”
The Packers and Jacobs agree to a four-year, $48 million deal, which comes out to $12 million a year.
After a strong start to his career, Jacobs broke out in a big way for the Raiders in 2022 (340 CAR, 1653 YDS, 12 TD, 53 REC, 400 YDS), earning the first All-Pro selection of his career and his second Pro Bowl berth. Jacobs, like much of the Raiders offense, struggled in 2023, though (233 CAR, 805 YDS, 6 TD, 37 REC, 296 YDS), and some wondered whether those struggles would impact his market.
The Packers are such a surprising team to sign Jacobs because they already have a star running back in Aaron Jones on their roster. While Jones worked in tandem with AJ Dillon, who is almost certainly leaving in free agency now, he has played extremely well on a per-carry basis over the past few seasons. While signing another guy to take some carries from him made sense, he now might be playing second fiddle to Jacobs out of the backfield now.
It's clear that the Packers offense is better with Jacobs in tow, but it remains to be seen what this means for their running back room moving forward. Only time will tell, but after their surprising run to the Divisional Round of the playoffs, Green Bay is proving that they mean business, and it will be interesting to see how they follow up this big move.
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