Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs is about to rejoin his teammates, but he isn’t out of the woods yet with regards to his punishment from the NFL following a violation of the league’s personal code of conduct policy.
Jacobs pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges (battery and criminal damage to property) on September 10, after which the court rendered his punishment, which included no jail time, and his legal case ended.
However, the NFL’s investigation remains ongoing, even after the league office removed Jacobs from the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which will allow him to return to football activities next Monday and play in the team’s Week 7 contest against the Detroit Lions.
But Jeremy Fowler of ESPN revealed two crucial details on Friday, October 16 that might factor into Jacobs’ final suspension length, thereby determining if Jacobs misses more time in the future (beyond the six games he has already sat out) due to his off-field conduct.
To start Week 7, he can go back to the team facility with the Packers, work his way back into the lineup for Week 7. Now that doesn’t mean that the investigation into his domestic incident is over. I’m told that is ongoing.
But I talked to the attorney of the woman in the case who said [the victim] has not participated in the investigation part. She has not been interviewed [by the NFL] due to privacy concerns.
Josh Jacobs, I heard, has talked to the NFL. So a lot of legwork is done. The key here … is the video that does exist, parties involved are trying to keep the video from being released. The police locally are trying to get it released. Does it ever come to light is the question? If it does, the league could step back in and create a longer suspension.
NFL Has Not Determined, Handed Down RB Josh Jacobs’ Suspension Yet, as League Seeks Video of Criminal Incident
The first of two elements of Fowler’s report that are most relevant is that the league has not handed down a suspension yet, though it certainly will — most likely when the video issue resolved.
Secondly, Jacobs has spoken to the league about the incident in question, which offers some implications and which no outlet had reported before Fowler mentioned it on “SportsCenter” Friday night.
But starting at the beginning, the NFL has tried to view the video in question, which shows some of the interaction between Jacobs and his then girlfriend on the night in question.
However, with both Jacobs and the victim filing lawsuits to render the footage permanently sealed as evidence, there is no guarantee the league ever will gain access to it. That said, the police and relevant courts should settle matter of the video by sometime in early November, one way or the other.
At that point, the league will issue its punishment ruling, either having seen the video or not. If the NFL suspends Jacobs, which is all but a guarantee, the six games he has missed already this season will count toward that discipline as time served. He will simply have to return the money the Packers paid him for those contests while he was on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which is akin to paid leave.
If the league suspends Jacobs for longer than six games — say eight, for instance — Jacobs will have to sit out another two contests absent pay and will then be able to return. And if the league sees the footage in question and deems in heinous, there is no telling how long the suspension may be.
Packers’ Josh Jacobs Has Already Spoken to NFL About Off-Field Incident in Question, Which Matters Significantly
The second element, Jacobs’ conversation with the league involving the incident with his ex-girlfriend, matters because of historical precedent — namely that of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.
Rice initially got a two-game suspension after talking with league officials following his domestic incident. Then video of his crime leaked, and the public outcry led the NFL to change that punishment to an indefinite suspension. Rice challenged that outcome in court, claiming the league punished him twice for the same offense, and the judge in the case ruled in the RB’s favor.
The court found that Rice had been honest in his conversation with the league before it made its initial disciplinary decision. Because of that, the NFL did not have grounds to retroactively change Rice’s suspension simply because of the public outcry/backlash that the video spurred, as the league already had all the evidence it needed to make its ruling.
Justis Mosqueda of SB Nation laid out on Friday why that matters so much with regards to Jacobs’ circumstances.
“Instead of suspending Jacobs initially, [the NFL] allowed him to spend six weeks on the [commissioner’s] exempt list — which is technically not a suspension, as Jacobs continued to get paid while he was unavailable for the Packers,” Mosqueda wrote.
“The NFL only gets to press the suspension button once for the same personal conduct violation,” Mosqueda continued. “But the league appears to be maneuvering in a way to reserve its right to suspend Jacobs in case the video in this dispute causes a negative public reaction — even if Jacobs was being truthful with them in their investigation up to his return in Week 7. Their one chance to hit the suspension button is still preserved.”
Packers’ Josh Jacobs Not in Clear as New, Major Detail of NFL Inquiry Exposed