Pro Football Network picked one bounce-back candidate for each NFL team this season, and for the Green Bay Packers, the site selected newcomer Josh Jacobs to be that player.
After being the NFL’s rushing leader with 1,653 yards during the 2022 season, Jacobs’ production took a step back in 2023. He finished last year with 805 yards, averaging only 3.5 yards per attempt.
As always, there are numerous factors in play, one of which was that Jacobs was banged up, appearing in only 13 games. But in addition to that, the Raiders offense could never quite gain consistent traction either.
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“Obviously as a team,” said Jacobs when asked about his down year, “with the contract stuff and all of that coming in, it was a little different. We had a lot of new moving parts, we didn’t really know who the quarterback was going to be, we didn’t really know what our identity was going to be.
“So the first few games were kind of rough, and then we started to figure it out a little bit, but we couldn’t really stay consistent, and then towards the end of the year I end up having an injury. It was just one of them situations where you expected a lot out of that season, and it just didn’t go that way.”
However, in Green Bay, Jacobs will have additional help around him when it comes to rebounding in 2024. With the potential that the Packers’ potent passing game has led by Jordan Love, Jacobs will likely see fewer eight-man boxes that he will have to contend with, resulting in more space to operate in.
Jacobs will also be playing behind a better offensive line unit with the Packers than what he had with the Raiders.
The obvious impact that Jacobs brings to the Packers’ offense is with his ability as a ball carrier, although his chance to put together a bounce-back season is two-fold with the opportunities he will get in the passing game.
With the Raiders, Jacobs was a big part of the passing game there, totaling 249 targets in his five seasons. That will, in all likelihood, continue with the Packers, given how important it is to the Matt LaFleur offense that the running back be able to double as a pass-catcher. But Jacobs will be asked to impact that part of the game in different ways than what he was previously.
“I was talking to (LaFleur) about that actually and I was telling him I feel like I want to catch it a little bit more,” Jacobs said. “I feel like I didn’t get to show that as much as I would have liked. So, that’s definitely something in the conversations we had. I know the schemes out here, they do a lot of outside-zone running. I think it just fits me, man. I can’t wait to get in and feel it out and see where I fit in. But also try to leave my mark on it, too.”
Jacobs being able to bounce-back this season will be a key factor in the Packers’ offense reaching its full potential. It’s not a coincidence that things really began to click for this group late last season when Aaron Jones was fully healthy and rushing for a 100 yards each week with what seemed to be relative ease. When an offense has a run game to lean on, everything else opens up.