Getty Champ Kelly, Raiders interim GM (left) and Brett Veach, Chiefs GM
The last time Raiders running back Josh Jacobs made a play for a new contract, it did not go so great. Jacobs was a holdout in Las Vegas this summer, angling to get a better deal coming off a season in which he led the NFL in rushing yardage. But the Raiders, as other teams with holdout running backs did, held firm and Jacobs eventually caved, accepting a one-year deal that only provided a small bump up from his original contract, to $11.8 million.
In just a few months, it will start all over again for the Raiders and Josh Jacobs. He will again want a sizable long-term contract. According to Spotrac, his market value is better than $10 million per year, with a $43 million, four-year deal predicted for Jacobs at the site.
The Raiders will have a stronger hand given Jacobs’ diminished output. But it is not known how new GM Champ Kelly would handle such a situation — if he is still around. Kelly is the interim GM for the Raiders.
The difference this time will be that another team could slip in and make a decent offer to Jacobs and yank him away from the Raiders. And according to one NFL contract expert from Spotrac, a team to watch on that front is the hated Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Andy Reid could likely do wonders with a versatile back like Jacobs.
K.C. Could ‘Toss a Value Contract’ at Josh Jacobs
In a piece titled, “Evaluating the 2024 Running Back Market,” contract guru Mike Ginnitti foresaw another team potentially sneaking in on Jacobs next offseason.
“The Josh Jacobs we’ve seen on our screens this season won’t approach a $10M per year contract, but if he’s allowed to hit the open market, don’t count out a team like Kansas City tossing a value contract at him to bolster their offense next season,” he wrote.
Oof. The notion of losing Josh Jacobs at all is difficult, considering how productive he has been. But the idea of losing him to the Chiefs is a doubly painful cut.
Still, there should be real concern about Jacobs’ future as the Raiders’ lead back. He is only 26, which is a point in his favor, and of all the mayhem that has gone on with the Raiders, Jacobs is at least a known quantity.
But now in his fifth season, Josh Jacobs is averaging 60.1 yards per game, the second-fewest of his career, and 3.3 yards per attempt, by far the worst of his career (3.9 yards in 2020 was his lowest previously).
“The Yards per Attempt have completely fallen off of a cliff (4.9 in 2022, 3.3 in 2023), and he’s fumbling at the highest rate of his career to go along with it,” Ginnitti wrote. “Jacobs was an astonishing 99.5% True Value in our system last year against a $2.1M salary. This year, his 10.7% True Value sees him producing at a $1.25M level.”
Raiders Attempting to Get RB More Involved
In the end, Spotrac has Josh Jacobs coming in at $10.8 million per year, worthy of that four-year, $43 million contract. That is expensive in this running back market, and as was noted, Jacobs has not put up the kind of numbers that would justify that contract. Yet.
But one of the focal points of interim head coach Antonio Pierce since he took over at the end of October has been to re-ignite Jacobs. It’s worked—Jacobs has averaged 84.3 yards per game since Pierce took over.
“I’ve said since I gotten here, we’ll run through Josh Jacobs,” Pierce said this week. “That opens up everything. … It opens up for our entire offense, and our O-line, it helps everybody out. That will be the plan. Everybody knows. We got the best running back in football, and we’re gonna use him. We need to use him.”
If Jacobs wants to get to $40 million-plus over four years, they’d better.