The Green Bay Packers, and general manager Brian Gutekunst, took a calculated risk in free agency by letting Aaron Jones walk and signing former NFL rushing champion Josh Jacobs to replace him.
Jacobs put pen to paper on a four-year deal worth $48 million when free agency began, and, after Jones was released by Green Bay, the former Packers running back landed with the division-rival Minnesota Vikings.
It remains to be seen whether Jacobs can stay healthy and replicate Jones’ versatility both as a runner and pass-catcher out of the backfield for the Packers.
However, NFL.com analyst Kevin Patra believes Gutekunst and the Packers might have perfectly timed Jacobs’ market.
“Jacobs is currently on an every-other-year-is-great yo-yo, so by that approximation, the Packers bought in at the right time,” Patra writes. “Jacobs led the NFL in rushing in 2022, but in 2023 — after sitting out in the offseason and inking a one-year pact in Vegas — he never looked right. It could have been the 340-carry workload from that ’22 campaign wearing on his legs, or simply lousy injury luck. When he’s healthy, Jacobs is a piledriver who can get north and south in a hurry, turning would-be 3-yard gains into 7- and 8-yarders.
“His style as a workhorse back with some pass-catching skills should fit well in Matt LaFleur’s offense. We saw how important a healthy Aaron Jones was to Green Bay’s operation in 2023. I expect Jacobs to immediately step into Jones’ role and provide Jordan Love with a thriving ground complement. He finished with a career-low 3.5 yards per carry last year, but we should see a more rejuvenated Jacobs in 2024.”
Staying healthy could prove critical to Jacobs living up to expectations.
But, there is little doubt the 26-year-old will be a focal point of Green Bay’s ground attack in an offense that features young and exciting playmakers in the passing game like Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, and Luke Musgrave around wunderkind quarterback Jordan Love.
Perhaps, though, the truest measure of Jacobs’ success will be whether he can surpass Jones’ production from recent seasons with the Packers.
Jones eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards three of the past five seasons and if Jacobs can approach that level of explosiveness, his tenure in Green Bay will have gotten off to a strong start in 2024.
Gutekunst Opens Up on Packers Letting Aaron Jones Walk
The Packers released Jones after the team and the star running back couldn’t come to terms on a reworked contract to lower his cap number.
During the NFL Annual Meeting, Gutekunst explained Green Bay’s thought process behind moving on.
“Really tough. Obviously, the business of football never stops,” Gutekunst told reporters in Orlando. “Those things, any player that’s kind of committed to it the way he has for our football team, just the way he was in our locker room and obviously a very productive player, it’s always tough. But I think, over time, you get used to it, but that’s just kind of the business of football. But we wish him well. He couldn’t have represented us any better in his time with us, but very tough.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out. Don’t blame him at all. He’s always done right by us and again, it was one of those tough moments, but it was a necessary one for us.”
Jones rushed for 656 yards in 11 games for the Packers, in 2023, and Green Bay is hoping that Jacobs can emerge as a worthy complement — and perhaps driving force of a prolific offense built around Love.
Josh Jacobs Hopes to Become a Favorite Target of Jordan Love
Thus far in his career, Jacobs has only caught 46 passes through five seasons, but he’s hoping to play a bigger role in the Packers’ passing game than he did in a Raiders uniform.
“I was talking to coach about that actually yesterday,” Jacobs told reporters during his Packers introductory press conference. “And I was telling him I felt like I want to catch it a little bit more. I feel like I didn’t get to show that as much as I would have liked. So that definitely something in the conversations we had.”
As Packers Wire points out, via Pro Football Focus, the Packers lined up Jones up as a slot receiver on 7.1 percent of his snaps, whereas Jacobs was in the slot on just 2.9 percent of his snaps thus far in his career.
If LeFleur uses Jacobs similarly to how he deployed Jones, Jacobs has the chance to emerge as a strong security blanket for Love and key contributor in the passing game.
