The Packers have had quite an exciting week, haven’t they? Starting off with the bad, the team has cut David Bahktiari and Aaron Jones. Those moves were somewhat expected but unfortunate nonetheless.
On the plus side, the team signed safety Xavier McKinney and brought in a couple of other smaller (but important) pieces.
The biggest of all moves was the signing of Josh Jacobs. A move that was somewhat surprising to Packers and NFL fans worldwide, it’s a great and exciting move that moves the needle towards a better future for Green Bay. Jacobs is still young, being drafted in 2019, and still has a ton of great play left in him.
Here’s the ultimate size-up of the move, and how Jacobs might just be the center of Matt LaFleur’s offense moving forward.
An Examination Of Josh Jacob’s Time With The Las Vegas Raiders
Jacobs has had a roller coaster of a time in Oakland/Las Vegas, to say the least.
After graduating from Alabama, Jacobs was seen as the devout best running back coming out of the 2019 class. He had a promising rookie season, racking up 1150 yards and 7 TDs in a rebuilding year for the Gruden Raiders reboot.
Jacobs’s best year by far was in 2022, when he led the entire league in rushing and was a force to be reckoned with. He essentially outplayed newcomer Davante Adams in an offense supposedly built around Adams.
Josh then took a major step back last year for a few reasons. Number one was that Josh McDaniels was his head coach. Sure, Josh may have been in charge during Jacob’s interstellar 2022 campaign, but we’ve seen that when the going gets tough, McDaniels can struggle to adapt.
Number two is that the run blocking for the Raiders was pretty bad last year, especially when McDaniels was still coaching. The line improved a bit when Antonio Pierce took over as interim coach, but not enough to carry Jacobs back to superstardom by year’s end.
That ultimately played a role in Vegas not wanting to retain Jacobs, and voila, he’s now officially a Green Bay Packer.
How Will Josh Jacobs Fit In Matt LaFluer’s 2024 Offense?
Matt LaFleur runs a West Coast system that fans have become accustomed to at this point. Based heavily on the Shanahan system, the Packers have run the ball well since Matt has taken over the team.
Jacob’s style of play is very physical-based. He loves to run people over and do it with good speed. He’s not super elusive but he can break tackles like it’s nobody’s business. He isn’t very great at being a pass catcher either, which means he’s going to need at least a solid line to run behind.
The Packers last year had a mediocre run-blocking unit. This played a part in AJ Dillon only averaging 3.4 yards per carry, although some of that had to do with Dillon’s lack of speed. Aaron Jones ran for 4.6 YPC, which is something of a down year for the NFC North veteran.
