USA Today Oakland Raiders' rookie running back Josh Jacobs
Move over Michael Orr, it’s time for a new heartwarming film about an NFL player and that player is new Oakland Raiders running back Josh Jacobs.
According to Josh Jacobs himself, he’s been approached by “big time producers” interested in making a movie about his life:
Been getting offers on doing a movie about my story from big time producers. Idk what y’all think?
This wouldn’t be Hollywood’s first foray into the football business. There have been several high-profile movies featuring the NFL and NFL players. Josh Jacobs’ journey to the NFL is certainly a harrowing one and could make for a moving film.
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From Sleeping in Cars to Putting Out Highlights
If you’re unfamiliar with Josh Jacobs’ story, you should be because it’s quite remarkable. In a piece by Adam Kramer at Bleacher Report, Jacobs recounts his days of sleeping on his dorm room floor because he wasn’t used to sleeping on a bed. His father and he would frequently move from motel to motel or simply sleep in their car.
Jacobs wasn’t a highly sought after recruit when he was finished with high school. He decided to put out highlights on his Twitter page and after that, he started to garner much more interest. He caught the attention of Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
“We thought something was wrong with the guy — maybe he’s too small or whatever,” Saban said.
Jacobs started to receive interest from big-name schools like Oklahoma and TCU. After a long process, Jacobs decided to accept Alabama’s scholarship offer. Shortly after his decision, Jacobs’ son Braxton was born.
Despite Alabama’s reputation for working their running backs to the bone, Jacobs saw very little usage during his tenure. Former Alabama running back Trent Richardson had more carries (283) in his junior year season than Jacobs did (251) during the entirety of his three years at the program.
Despite the lack of usage, Jacobs was still considered the highest-ranked running back in the 2019 draft class. The Raiders drafted Jacobs with the 24th overall pick in the first round – the first time they took a running back in the first round since Darren McFadden in 2008. Sporting fresh legs and a bruising running style, expect Josh Jacobs to be an instant centerpiece in the Raider offense.
What to Expect from the Movie
Generally, movies about the NFL have a reputation for being good, not great. The Blindside is probably the film that would be most comparable to a potential Josh Jacobs movie and that movie is somewhat well regarded. A film about Josh Jacobs will likely focus on his formative years and less about his time in college.
Now, if the producers want to make this really interesting, they could go the 8-Mile and cast Josh Jacobs to play himself. This is highly unlikely, but a fun thought nonetheless. However, we may need to wait a while before Jacobs signs off on Hollywood making a movie about his life.
It definitely won’t be this year….
I think the stories only half written in due time 🤞🏽
Josh Jacobs’ story has everything you’d want from a feel-good Hollywood movie. Is it a story we’ve seen before? Probably, but Jacobs is a real standup guy and deserves any praise that can be heaped upon him.
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