Now that the dust has settled from the Las Vegas Raiders‘ first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, more information has come to light regarding a possible Josh Jacobs trade. The Pro Bowl running back surprisingly played in the game’s first two drives. Starting running backs don’t typically see any snaps in the preseason, especially ones with injury histories like Jacobs.
It was deduced that the Raiders were shopping the running back and that’s why he played. The team drafted Zamir White in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft so it’s clear they might not have plans for Jacobs past this season. However, it doesn’t look like Las Vegas is ready to move on quite yet. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has reported that the Raiders aren’t shopping Jacobs and head coach Josh McDaniels shut down any trade rumors.
“No,” McDaniels said of the trade rumors on Monday. “J.J.’s a guy that, obviously, we know what he’s done. And as I said after the game, I really do believe that the backs — in any situation — they don’t really get to simulate what’s going to happen during the course of the regular season. (We’re) giving them an opportunity to actually get tackled, take care of the football and get acclimated to a new system, quite honestly. … We have a lot of confidence in J.J. and he did well with his opportunities. … But, no, we have no desire to do that at all.”
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Makes No Sense to Trade Jacobs Now
The idea the Raiders would trade Jacobs now never made much sense. He’s still a very good player and is only due $2.1 million in base salary for 2022, per Spotrac. That’s not a steep price to pay for a potential Pro-Bowl-level running back.
White has a bright future and the Raiders have plenty of running back depth, but nobody has proven to be better than Jacobs yet. The former Alabama standout has been one of the better running backs in the NFL when healthy. If he can stay healthy in 2022, he could be in for a big season. The Raiders are trying to win a Super Bowl so there’s no reason to move on from top talent right now when the return wouldn’t likely be great.
Highest-graded offensive players this season ☠
1️⃣ Kolton Miller – 84.2
2️⃣ Hunter Renfrow – 80.6
3️⃣ Josh Jacobs – 77.4
4️⃣ Derek Carr – 76.3
5️⃣ Kenyan Drake – 73.5
Zamir White Talks RB Competition
Jacobs is the favorite to be the Raiders starter and bell cow this season but nothing is set in stone. McDaniels and his coaching staff don’t have allegiance to anyone who was on the team prior to this season. This has led to a strong sense of competition throughout the roster, especially at running back.
White had a chance to talk about the competition brewing between Jacobs, Kenyan Drake and himself.
“Me, Josh, Drake and all those guys, we have fun with it,” White said Monday. “We don’t really care too much about the competition. We just go out there and have fun with it.”
Competition is never a bad thing and this should only make all of the players better in the long run.
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Josh McDaniels Issues Strong Response to Recent Raiders Trade Rumors