The Green Bay Packers have made a big offseason move during the early stages of the 2024 free agency by, acquiring Josh Jacobs for a four-year, $48 million contract.
News broke live to Ian Rapoport while discussing the Free Agent Frenzy on the NFL Network,
From Free Agency Frenzy: When news breaks on live TV and you fight the battle of whether to say it or tweet it (PS: Josh Jacobs to the #Packers). pic.twitter.com/oAKLbFsB85
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2024
Josh Jacobs provides first, second, and third down options for the Packers. In 2022 Jacobs was dominating the run game for the Las Vegas Raiders. With 1,653 yards on the ground and 12 touchdowns, Jacobs was in the conversation for AP player of the year.
However, after last season’s disappointing performance, averaging 3.5 yards a carry and gaining less than 900 yards, it was clear his time in Vegas was coming to an end.
Luckily Jacobs finds himself behind a strong O-line and an impressive quarter back in Jordan Love, who will look towards his new back for short yardage passes.Jacobs is a phenomenal receiving back with nearly 200 receptions in his 5-year career. He averaged 8 yards per reception last year under a rotation of backup quarterbacks.
Because of the Green Bay Packers’ strategy last year, opponents focused on preventing the pass first (even on short downs). This resulted in opponents having more sacks against the Packers (and ultimately more first downs). You could point fingers at David Bakhtiari impact being sidelined but, when the numbers significantly favor the passing game, it showed the team was not sold on Dillon replacing his predecessor Jones.
Shortly after the Josh Jacobs signing, the Green Bay Packers then released 7 year veteran, Aaron Jones. The Green Bay Packers release a statemnt via NBC sports saying,
How does Aaron Jones then show his loyalty to the Team that brought him up throughout his entire NFL career? Aaron Jones then signed with NFC north rivals Minnesota Vikings. Packers fans were left feeling betrayed. Alec Lewis and Dianna Russini of The Athletic release this statement, reflecting the Green Bay Packers efforts towards working out a deal with Aaron Jones.
“The move occurred one day after the Packers cut Jones, who will turn 30 in December. The Athletic reported that Green Bay asked Jones to take about a 50 percent pay cut, if not more, entering the final year of a four-year, $48 million contract. He was set to make $12 million in base salary and bonuses with the Packers.”
However, there is a silver lining. These two events provide an example of what the Packers approach towards strengthening their running attack. The biggest question for the Green Bay Packer’s immediate success is if their running game could readily move from what Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were providing.
The Packers relied heavily on the passing game during the 2023 season: with 211 1st down passing attempts, 12 more than their opponents, and only attempting 441 rushes compared to their opponents’ 493 rushes.
Green Bay Packers tried implementing a dual threat receiver. Like the 49ers have used Deebo Samuel, the Packers have shown glimpses of its receiver sweep with Jayden Reed. However, the 5′ 11″, 187 lbs Reed is not built to handle I-formation gap runs like a 6′ 0″, 215 lbs, Deebo Samuel. Reed was able to gain 119 yards on 11 carries during the regular season, but was overlooked during the playoffs.
While Jones showed his durability with an impressive 3-TD game in the first round of the playoffs, he was nowhere to be found in the divisional game against the Super Bowl bound Niners. With under 200 yards passing and only 136 yards rushing, there was not enough offense to overcome the stifling Niners defense.
The Packers’ willingness to implement a new running back in their offense has freshened up their backfield. AJ Dillon is an early down power back who has not taken advantage of his snap count with Aaron Jones being injured. The Packers moves may have helped push themselves, by acquiring Josh Jacobs, into becoming the Super Bowl contenders they are meant to be.
