Ranking Every Player on Packers’ Roster, No. 4: Josh Jacobs

The Green Bay Packers will take a 90-player roster to the field for their first practice of training camp on July 23.

In a Packers On SI tradition, we are ranking every player on the roster. This isn’t just a list of the best players. Rather, we take talent, contract, draft history, importance of the position and depth at the position into consideration.

More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.

No. 4: RB Josh Jacobs

Jordan Love got the love but the late-season resurgence of Aaron Jones was just as important to Green Bay’s late-season run to the 2023 playoffs. During the final three must-win games, Jones rushed for 127, 120 and 111 yards. Then, in the playoffs, he rushed for 118 and 108 yards. That’s five consecutive 100-yard games for a total of 584 yards.

You know what happened in free agency. The Packers signed Josh Jacobs, who rushed for 805 yards in 13 games in 2023.

Jacobs was an All-Pro in 2022, when he led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards. While younger than Jones, he also had more career carries and touches. It was fair to wonder if general manager Brian Gutekunst was making a big mistake by giving a four-year, $48 million contract to a running back who averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and was worse than AJ Dillon after contact.

As it turns out, Gutekunst was right and the critics (this writer included) were wrong.

Jacobs was sensational. He finished sixth in the NFL in rushing. While he lacked Jones’ explosive pop, he was a tireless workhorse who fought for every inch available – and tended to gain inches that weren’t available. He gained 78.2 percent of his yards after contact, the highest number among the league’s top-10 rushers.

Nonetheless, Jacobs said he left a lot of yards on the table.

“I had like 300-some yards called back [by penalties] but, not only that, there were a few plays where I had some one-on-ones where if I made a person miss or broke that tackle, it was the difference between a 20-yard gain and a 60-yard gain,” Jacobs said during OTAs. “So, them little things like that, I feel like that’s what makes people elite. So, that’s the thing I’ve tried to come in the offseason and work on.”

Last season, 46 running backs carried the ball at least 100 times. From that group, Jacobs ranked eighth with 3.45 yards after contact per carry. Among all players with at least 35 catches, Jacobs ranked fourth with 11.2 yards after the catch per catch. He didn’t drop any passes and erased his name from the record book with his first career touchdown catch.

The hope is a new offensive line will create some easier yards for Jacobs before he works his tackle-breaking magic.

“Man, I always tell them, ‘Shoot, just get on somebody, I’ll make you right,’” Jacobs said. “Literally. I tell the line that, I tell the receivers that. I’m like, ‘Get out of the way, get in the way, whatever. But I’ll make you right. Just don’t completely blow the assignment.’ But I try my best to help them out. I feel like it’s a partnership at the end of the day. I can’t do my job without them and, when they do their job, I make them look good. So, that’s all part of it.”

More than just a talented player, he was an excellent fit in the locker room – no small feat considering the man he was replacing.

“The guy is a dawg, not just in the way he carries the ball, but also just his presence,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said before the start of OTAs. “It’s one of the things that we talk about in our room. Being around really good running backs, they have a presence about them on the field that kind of permeates throughout the team through their game play as well as when they’re in the locker room.

“Because besides the quarterback, you’re touching the ball probably more than anybody else out there, so you can affect the emotions of the team more than anybody else. Obviously, I think he surprised a lot of us with his ability to catch the ball and his ability to do things with the ball after the catch. We know that’s something that we can expand on. So, he’s been everything that we would hope for and definitely the engine for us offensively.”

Along with Saquan Barkley and Derrick Henry, Jacobs highlighted the rebirth of the running back. Once deemed a use-and-discard position, the veterans had banner seasons after signing contracts in free agency.

“I feel like everything in football – really, in life – it comes full circle,” Jacobs said. “So, to see a lot of these guys starting to step up and be real big and key to their teams, I think it’s big. I think it’s big for the young guys coming up that when it’s time to get paid and things like that, but also I think it’s big for the guys that just want to showcase who they are and their talent and things like that.

“Besides the quarterback, we touch the ball more than anybody else on the field, so we have the most opportunities to create and be special. I’m proud of a lot of these guys who stepped up and showed their versatility and played good.”