One of three teams to use their franchise tag on a running back this year, the Raiders look to have planned from the start to go down this road with Josh Jacobs. Although Las Vegas’ Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler regime passed on Jacobs’ fifth-year option, the 2022 rushing champion did not appear a threat to hit free agency.
While the Giants spent weeks negotiating with Saquon Barkley ahead of the March deadline to apply franchise tags, Vic Tafur of The Athletic notes the Raiders have not yet begun pertinent extension talks with Jacobs. The Raiders entered March as one of two teams to have not used the tag over the past 10 years, joining the Eagles, but it certainly appears they earmarked it for Jacobs from the start.
McDaniels offered extensive praise for Jacobs early this offseason, but Mark Davis‘ recent comments stand to carry weight regarding Jacobs’ future with the team. After the owner was linked to driving his new HC-GM duo to move on from Derek Carr, he offered nothing but praise for Jacobs, the team’s first rushing champion since Marcus Allen.
“Josh is phenomenal,” Davis said. “He was the heart of our team last year. There is no question about it in my mind. He came to play every day and is a tough, tough, tough guy. I am just really proud of him. He was a Raider. If we had 22 Josh Jacobses, with that mentality … that guy is just amazing.”
The Raiders have until July 17 to finalize a deal with Jacobs, who has said he wants to remain with the franchise. As should be expected, Jacobs alluded to compensation when addressing his future with the team. This year’s market did not do the franchise-tagged backs any favors. The expected buyer’s market unfolded. A few multiyear starters took one-year deals worth less than $3M in base value, and no backs signed contracts that paid them in the top 10 at the position. Miles Sanders‘ $6.35M-per-year Panthers accord topped the list, and that came below — in terms of AAV — James Conner and Leonard Fournette‘s 2022 pacts. The Bucs bailed on Fournette’s three-year, $21M deal after one season.
With the Giants unlikely to give Barkley a top-market deal — especially after the 2023 market sputtered — the Raiders may hold the line below the Christian McCaffrey–Alvin Kamara tier (the $15M-plus sector) as well. The Giants did make multiple offers to Barkley — one during the season, at least one more ahead of the March tag deadline — but the Raiders have not been linked to submitting one to Jacobs. It will be fairly new territory for the team and its head coach.
The Raiders let Latavius Murray walk after his rookie contract expired and gave Marshawn Lynch a two-year, $9M deal soon after. The closest thing the Raiders have had to a top-level running back salary — in the modern era, at least — was Darren McFadden‘s six-year, $60M rookie contract, which came before the 2011 CBA created the slot system. The Patriots — perhaps a more relevant team for comparisons, given the Raiders’ present makeup — have famously moved on from backs early. They did not re-sign Laurence Maroney, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Stevan Ridley or Damien Harris. LeGarrette Blount‘s second Pats deal did not eclipse $2M. After extending Dion Lewis on a low-level accord, New England let the Titans pay him in 2018.
Jacobs is coming off a better season (2,053 scrimmage yards, 12 touchdowns) than any of these backs compiled, but recent precedent and his position’s current market are not working in his favor. It will be interesting to see how much Barkley’s talks shape the eventual Jacobs negotiations as well.
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