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Rob Demovsky, ESPN editor-in-chief
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Josh Jacobs noticed something different about the Green Bay Packers during his whirlwind courtship in the early days of free agency.
In fact, the veteran back noticed several things that were different from where he spent the first five seasons of his NFL career.
But the list began with something he desperately wanted: stability.
Jacobs played for four head coaches and three general managers with the Las Vegas Raiders after they selected him 24th overall in the 2019 draft. Last season alone, he played with three different starting quarterbacks.
“I feel like the Raiders are still a top franchise,” Jacobs said. “But when you come in and you have different coaches and different general managers with their own vision, you kind of have to adapt to their vision. We didn’t really have that culture set in stone.”
Green Bay, in Jacobs’ mind, was the antithesis of the Raiders’ instability.
“That’s the biggest difference: You know what it’s like to be a Packer,” he said. “You feel it throughout the building. You see it every day.”
What Jacobs, 26, saw was a coach/GM combination that had been together since 2019 and a rising star at quarterback surrounded by a roster of young talent ready to contend for a Super Bowl. He also saw how coach Matt LaFleur had involved running back Aaron Jones — whose departure opened the door for Jacobs to sign with the Packers in March — in many aspects of the offense.
So far, just over a week into training camp, Jacobs has lived everything he envisioned. That was reflected in how often Jacobs’ eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face during a 20-minute question-and-answer session at his locker after a recent training camp practice.
“I didn’t want to come to a team where I felt like I was in a rebuilding situation,” Jacobs said. “I didn’t want to come to a team where I didn’t feel like I was going to make an immediate impact and be one of the factors that would get me through this.”
That eliminated several teams that contacted him, including the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants, which he said were among the 10 to 12 teams interested. In fact, he said he accepted $3 million to $4 million less than other teams offered him when he signed the four-year, $48 million contract with the Packers.
He said he knew since the 2023 season that he wouldn’t be back in Las Vegas for this season. When the Raiders used the franchise tag on him last year before ultimately agreeing to add $2 million to the $10.1 million number — after he missed most of training camp — they told him everything he needed to know.
In fact, he said he asked to leave Las Vegas last summer before signing his 2023 contract.
“I told them, ‘Trade me because you’re not really showing me that you want me here by tagging me,’” Jacobs said. “They didn’t take the fifth-year option, that’s when they said, ‘If we give you extra money, would that be a commitment?’ I said, ‘It’s a commitment, but it’s not really a commitment.’ That’s how it happened. The writing was on the wall.”
It’s a reboot for Jacobs, who is coming off the least productive season of his career with 805 rushing yards in 13 games. The previous season, he more than doubled that number with a career-high 1,653 yards that earned him a Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection. It was his third 1,000-yard rushing campaign in his first four NFL seasons. He also had back-to-back seasons with 50-plus receptions in 2021 (54) and 2022 (53).
“You can tell he’s hungry,” Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “He loves being here, he’s hungry and he wants to win.”
Beyond everything that seemed good about the Packers, from the organizational standpoint to the chance to win, Jacobs was intrigued by the running back’s role in LaFleur’s passing game. He remembers Aaron Rodgers once saying that Jones and A.J. Dillon could combine for 100 receptions in a season.
A former high school receiver, Jacobs said he was primarily used on checkdowns and dump-off passes in the Raiders’ offense. Here, he saw how LaFleur would line up Jones in the slot or even split outside.
“It makes it a lot easier for us because we have a lot of matchups against linebackers,” Jacobs said. “And if you’re a running back and you can’t beat a linebacker in the passing game, I really don’t know what to tell you.”
As one of the linebackers who tried to cover him early in training camp, Packers veteran Eric Wilson agreed.
“Having to defend a guy who is not only dangerous in the backfield but is also a heck of a route runner, it makes it harder on defenses when you have a guy who can do both of those things,” Wilson said. “That’s a heck of a combo.”
Quarterback Jordan Love said: “You can definitely see he wants to be involved in the passing game. I heard he hasn’t had a touchdown reception yet, so that’s something we’re going to work on this year.”
That’s right. Despite 197 career receptions in 73 NFL games, Jacobs has yet to score a receiving touchdown.
He also didn’t win any playoff games.
“For me, it’s all about the playoffs,” Jacobs said. “The playoffs. I’m at a point in my career where I feel like I’ve done so much and I’ve gotten so many accolades, it’s all about legacy now. Winning playoff games is all I really think about. Playing 17-plus games, playing those last few games at a high level and hopefully playing that one and making an impact. That’s what’s most important to me right now.”