The Green Bay Packers used the closing hours before the NFL roster deadline to reinforce a suddenly undecided backfield.
Bleacher Report came away viewing the position as one of Green Bay’s biggest losers.
In an Aug. 30 rundown of winners and losers from every team’s roster cuts, Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport tagged the “Green Bay Run Game” as the Packers’ loser.
The concern centers on Josh Jacobs, who was placed on the NFL’s Commissioner’s Exempt List on Sunday and is barred from practicing or attending games while the league reviews his situation.
Green Bay moved quickly, acquiring Kaleb Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2028 sixth-round pick. That gives the Packers a supplementary option alongside MarShawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks, but none of the three enters Week 1 with anything close to Jacobs’ established NFL workload.
Davenport wrote that Jacobs’ absence “blew a sizable hole in the offense” for a team bringing playoff expectations into 2026.
Packers Facing Big Question Without Jacobs
Jacobs has been the lifeblood of Green Bay’s ground game since signing a four-year, $48 million contract in 2024. He rushed for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns in his first season with the Packers, then added 929 yards and 13 rushing scores in 2025.
His status now leaves coach Matt LaFleur with a much less proven group.
The NFL announced Sunday that Jacobs landed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. He can’t practice or attend games while on the list.
The move came after Jacobs was charged with misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property stemming from a May incident. His attorneys described the designation as an administrative procedure and said it was “not a final determination.”
The Packers had been preparing for the possibility that Jacobs might miss time, and their cutdown-day trade for Johnson added an needed back before the regular season.
Still, Bleacher Report questioned whether Green Bay has a ready-made replacement. Davenport pointed to Lloyd’s limited availability over his first two NFL seasons and Johnson’s quiet rookie campaign in Pittsburgh as reasons for concern.
Lloyd has logged only six regular-season carries since Green Bay selected him in the third round in 2024. A recurring hamstring injury wiped out his entire 2025 regular season, although he returned this summer and scored in Green Bay’s preseason win over Denver.
Packers Took Chance on Former Third-Round Pick
Johnson brings upside, but Green Bay is betting on a rebound from a player whose first NFL season never gained much traction.
The Steelers selected Johnson No. 83 overall in the 2025 NFL draft after he rushed for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns during his final season at Iowa. He earned first-team All-America honors before entering the league.
That production didn’t immediately pan out. Johnson appeared in 10 games for Pittsburgh as a rookie, finishing with 28 carries for 69 yards — a 2.5-yard average — and one reception for 9 yards.
Green Bay surrendered the 2028 sixth-round pick it received from Miami earlier Sunday to acquire Johnson, via the Packers’ official roster-move announcement. He joins Lloyd and Brooks on the initial 53-man roster, while Jacobs doesn’t count against the active roster while on the exempt list.
There’s a way for the Packers to weather Jacobs’ absence. Lloyd showed some of the explosiveness Green Bay has waited to see during the preseason, and Johnson was one of college football’s most productive backs only two years ago.
The uncertainty comes from having to find out whether either can handle a valid NFL role once the games count.
In the end, Green Bay entered the weekend with one of the league’s more established starting running backs, and now, it leaves roster cuts with three alternatives and no definitive answer for how long they will need one.
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