Perhaps the busiest day in terms of RB1 movement in NFL history sent Josh Jacobs to Green Bay. This came after multiple reports indicated Raiders interest in keeping their 2023 franchise player.
The Raiders did make Jacobs an offer and The Athletic’s Vic Tafur indicates it was the second-best proposal the former rushing champion received this month (subscription required). But the Packers proposal, per Tafur, came in well north of where the Raiders were willing to go for their five-year starter. Jacobs is now set to replace Aaron Jones as Green Bay’s top back.
Las Vegas’ offer not being especially close to Green Bay’s is rather interesting given the structure of Jacobs’ Packers contract. Although the Pack gave Jacobs a four-year, $48M deal – numbers that match where they went for Jones in 2021 – only $12.5M of that is fully guaranteed. Jacobs is due a $5.93M roster bonus on Day 5 of the 2025 league year, making that a pivotal date for his prospects of playing a second Packers season. With the team moving on from a seven-year performer in Jones, it would stand to reason it wants Jacobs for at least two seasons.
Jacobs’ Packers defection brought an end to two years of negotiations. The team was reported to have made Jacobs a better offer than the Giants submitted to Saquon Barkley before last summer’s deadline for tagged players to sign extensions. Though, another report indicated the previous Raider regime did not make an aggressive pursuit to extend Jacobs.
The Giants were believed to have offered Barkley a deal in the neighborhood of $22M guaranteed. While Barkley’s bet on himself paid off – in the form of an Eagles deal including $26M guaranteed at signing – no other RB this offseason topped $14M guaranteed at signing. D’Andre Swift‘s Bears deal included the $14M number. After his 2022 rushing championship, Jacobs finished with just 805 rushing yards and produced the fifth-worst rushing yards over expected number (per Next Gen Stats). The 2019 first-round pick also missed the Raiders’ final four games due to multiple contusions.
The Raiders expressed interest in keeping Jacobs, who was among those who stumped for Antonio Pierce to land the full-time HC job. But they hired a new GM (Tom Telesco) who came to Las Vegas after refusing to extend Austin Ekeler‘s contract with the Chargers last year. Telesco showed interest in adding Ekeler to the Raiders’ backfield, but with it only taking a two-year, $8.43M deal to send the dual-threat back to Washington, it is safe to assume Vegas’ Jacobs proposal came in higher.
The running back carousel did not send one of the recent starters to Nevada, potentially pointing to the Raiders addressing the position in the draft. For now, Jacobs fill-in Zamir White – a 2022 fourth-round pick – sits atop the depth chart.
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