Not two hours into the free agency negotiating period and it Josh Jacobs is already expected to be gone. The former rushing champ is headed to Green Bay.
The #Packers are expected to sign Josh Jacobs, source tell me and @TomPelissero.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2024
It is not all that surprising the Raiders didn’t retain Jacobs. After slapping him with the franchise tag last year, he went on to have his worst season as a pro.
Despite that down year, he was expected to pull in something close to the $10 million he made last season under the cap which is too rich for a team that is switching to a running back by committee approach, which is a far cry from the workhorse approach they took with Jacobs the past five seasons.
How much a part of the Raiders offense was Jacobs? A huge part.
Two seasons ago, he was second in the NFL in carries behind only perennial workhorse Derrick Henry. His 340 carries were second most in a season in franchise history.
In total Jacobs carried the rock a whopping 1305 times for 5545 yards and 46 touchdowns.
Those numbers both put him third in franchise history behind only Marcus Allen (8545) and Mark Van Eeghen (5907). And his three 1000-yard seasons is tied with Allen and Van Eeghen for the most in franchise history. And only Allen has more 100-yard games (22) than Jacobs’s 17.
Pretty amazing for a guy who wasn’t even the primary running back on his Alabama team.