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It looked like things could be trending in this direction and it’s finally happening. The Las Vegas Raiders are losing Josh Jacobs as he’s decided to sign a contract with the Green Bay Packers, per a March 11 X post from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The Packers were not one of the teams thought to be in the market for a running back but now land one of the best ones available in free agency. Jacobs is coming off a down year where he missed four games due to injury and rushed for a career-low 805 yards.
However, he’s only a year removed from leading the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards. With the Jacobs addition, the Packers are releasing Aaron Jones, who missed six games due to an injury last season. Jacobs now gets to reunite with former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who is the special teams coach in Green Bay.
According to a March 11 X post from Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz, Jacobs is getting a four-year contract worth $48 million from the Packers. That’s a massive payday for a running back and it’s easy to understand why the Raiders didn’t want to pay that.
Las Vegas Raiders Wanted to Sign Josh Jacobs
The Raiders didn’t lose Josh Jacobs to the Packers for a lack of trying. According to a March 11 X post from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the team did attempt to re-sign Jacobs before the start of free agency.
It’s unclear what number the Raiders and Jacobs were discussing but it clearly wasn’t in the ballpark of what the running back was hoping for. Head coach Antonio Pierce has spoken very highly of Jacobs and general manager Tom Telesco said the team would try to retain him.
Even Jacobs said he wanted to come back to the team but negotiations clearly broke down. It’s difficult for running backs to get paid well these days so Jacobs did what he had to do. The Raiders now have some questions when it comes to the running back position.
Zamir White Expected to Be RB1
Josh Jacobs getting hurt last season gave Zamir White a chance to serve as the starting running back for the first time in his career. He answered the call well and rushed for 397 yards in his four starts.
That opened up the door for the Raiders to replace Jacobs with a much cheaper option. According to Ian Rapoport, the team isn’t expected to sign a big name to replace Jacobs. They will build around White and likely draft a running back in April
White proved last season that he could carry the starting workload and be effective. He has a salary cap hit of $1.17 million next season, which will likely be much less than what Jacobs will be. Though Jacobs proved to be a great player for the Raiders and was a former first-round pick, running backs aren’t difficult to replace.
White likely won’t be able to reach the same heights Jacobs did but the team went 3-1 with him starting so they can win with him. It’s tough to lose a team leader like Jacobs but the Raiders have options.
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