The departure of running back Josh Jacobs will mean significant adjustments to the Las Vegas Raiders offense. After serving as the team’s focal point for many years, he decided to sign a four-year, $78 million contract with the Green Bay Packers during the free agent period.
The Packers’ offer was too good to turn down, even if Jacobs desired to remain in Las Vegas and the team wanted to re-sign him. Though there have been rumors that Jacobs preferred the Packers to the Raiders, Vic Tafur of The Athletic claims that it was all about money.
In a mailbag post from March 29, Tafur stated, “I am trying my best to stop shooting down people’s reports and keep my monster truck in my lane, but nah, that’s not true.” The Raiders made the second-best offer and what they believed to be a fair one, but it fell short of the Packers’ offer, which included a $14.8 million guaranteed in Year 1 (and perhaps $23 million over two years).
And it’s alright. Good player that he was for the Raiders, Jacobs demanded a higher salary to play for a playoff team that had Rich Bisaccia, an old friend, on staff. It’s his right, won the hard way. History demonstrates that the Raiders were wise to stick with their “fair” number when it came to running backs.
The Raiders’ decision not to re-sign Jacobs didn’t seem to please him, but it seems the Packers were making a far higher offer than any other team.
Josh Jacobs and Rich Bisaccia Are Reunited
Josh Jacobs is joining a familiar figure in Green Bay, as Vic Tafur hinted at. From 2019 to 2021, Jacobs and Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator for the Packers, were on the Raiders. In 2021, Bisaccia even served as temporary head coach.
Head coach Matt LaFleur suggested that the Packers’ intense pursuit of Jacobs might have been influenced by Bisaccia.
According to LaFleur, who recently spoke with The Athletic, “I think Rich definitely spoke highly of him.” “I believe you’re always curious to hear what a coach on staff who has worked with a player like him on another team has to say about him. He was raving about the worker, the player, and the individual.
For the first time in many years, Jacobs doesn’t have to worry about his contract status and should fit in nicely with the Packers.
Josh Jacobs: Will the Las Vegas Raiders miss him?
Players with Josh Jacobs’ caliber are difficult to replace. Zamir White appears to be the starting running back for the Raiders in the upcoming campaign. Ameer Abdullah was re-signed by the organization, while Alexander Mattison was also signed.
If White continues where he left off from the previous season, that is a formidable running back room. During the last four games of the previous season, he filled in for an injured Jacobs as the starting running back and ran for 397 yards. Although the sample size is limited, White appeared to be the real deal for the Raiders.
If White is good, Las Vegas won’t even think about the loss of Jacobs. If he struggles, the team will likely have some regrets. Regardless, $48 million is a lot to pay a running back in the modern NFL so the Raiders should come out of this situation OK.
