Analyst Dislikes Green Bay Packers Signing of Josh Jacobs

The Green Bay Packers made several big splashes during the 2024 NFL offseason. One of them was signing running back Josh Jacobs away from the Las Vegas Raiders.

It was a move that raised some eyebrows, as Josh Jacobs led the NFL in rushing in 2022 but struggled to regain that form in 2023. Signing him also meant the team moved on from long-term starter, Aaron Jones.

That swap is something that some fans didn’t love. It hurt even more when Jones agreed to a contract with the rival Minnesota Vikings. It turns out that those fans were not alone.

Also in the camp of not liking the Josh Jacobs signing was Seth Walder of ESPN. In his piece handing out grades for the 2024 NFL offseason, the move he liked the least for the Green Bay Packers was bringing in the Alabama product.

“Green Bay made an odd choice at running back, cutting Aaron Jones and paying Jacobs instead. While I appreciate getting younger, Jacobs has just one season in the past four with positive rush yards over expectation, per NFL Next Gen Stats. And while I understand moving on from Jones, I wouldn’t want to pay real money for Jacobs, though it’s mitigated by the fact that only $12.5 million is fully guaranteed,” Walder wrote.

If saving money at the running back position this offseason was one of the goals of the Green Bay Packers, they didn’t accomplish that. The $48 million the deal could be worth is the third-highest among running backs in the NFL, behind only Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara.

That is a lot of money to pay a player coming off the campaign that the former first-round pick had in 2023. Alas, it isn’t all bad for the team.

The contract that the Green Bay Packers and Josh Jacobs agreed to certainly has some positives. Essentially, the team has opt-outs along the way should they not like the form he is showing on the field.

However, should he play at a high level, they can just opt-in and pay him a contract that is below market value most years. A year-by-year pact like that certainly benefits the team and is one of the positives to bringing Josh Jacobs in.

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