Getty New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs is set to hit free agency this offseason after playing the 2023 season on the franchise tag. He ended up missing four games with an injury and only rushed for 805 yards, which was less than half of the 1,653 he rushed for in 2022.
If Jacobs is looking to get a massive payday in free agency, he may need to get it from another team. If he were to sign elsewhere, the Raiders could address the position in free agency where there’s a big name expected to be available. New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley also played the 2023 season on the franchise tag and could be ready for a fresh start.
According to Bookies.com, the Raiders have the fifth-best odds (+1000) of any team to sign him. Similar to Jacobs, Barkley didn’t have his best season on the franchise tag. He only rushed for 962 yards and missed three games. What could make him more appealing to the Raiders is that he’s only expected to get $22 million in free agency while Jacobs is projected to get $40 million, per a December 20 column from Pro Football Focus.
A two-year, $22 million investment in Barkley isn’t that steep so it wouldn’t be the biggest risk for the Raiders. However, it seems like a very unlikely move.
Josh Jacobs or Bust?
Josh Jacobs missed the Raiders’ final four games of the season but Zamir White came in and played well. He had 397 rushing yards in his four starts and proved that he could be a capable starting running back in the NFL.
Jacobs is more versatile in the passing game and has more speed than White so it’d make sense if the Raiders wanted to bring him back. However, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to spend money on a running back like Saquon Barkley. If the decision is to not spend big on a running back, the team should just roll with White.
There’s still a chance Jacobs comes back but the Raiders operating in a much better position than they were last year with the emergence of White.
Josh Jacobs is BACK!
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Las Vegas Raiders Still Best Fit for Josh Jacobs
Josh Jacobs has developed into one of the faces of the Raiders and is a leader on the team. Though he didn’t have a great year in 2023, he had the second-greatest season for a Raiders running back in franchise history in 2022.
He’s likely to hit free agency this offseason but it’s difficult to see another team valuing him as much as the Raiders do. Former Raiders running back Maurice Jones-Drew doesn’t think Jacobs will be playing elsewhere in 2024.
“It makes sense for Las Vegas to bring him back, though — and to be honest, I don’t really see him going anywhere else,” Jones-Drew wrote in a January 17 column for NFL.com. “His ability still can demand defenses to stack the box when he’s healthy, and that would go a long way to helping whoever’s under center for this team next fall.”
Jacobs has expressed that he’d like to stay with the Raiders but anything can happen once free agency starts. It might be best for the team to let him test the market as that could bring his asking price down.