Josh Jacobs (8) of the Green Bay Packers stiff arms Trevon Diggs (7) of the Dallas Cowboys during a 2025 game.
Getty Images
The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year. And perhaps no one did less with more than Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur.
Green Bay headed into the 2025 season with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packer Nation was dreaming of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.
Instead, Green Bay went a remarkably unsatisfying 9-8-1 overall and was the NFC’s No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year. The Packers then blew a 21-3 halftime lead in the Wild Card round against Chicago, gave up 25 fourth quarter points and eventually suffered a shocking 31-27 loss to the arch-rival Bears.
“No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs said.
Green Bay, which began the year 9-3-1, finished the season with five straight losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.
Collapsing late in games was the story of Green Bay’s 2025 campaign.
Green Bay had double digit leads in the final minutes twice against Chicago and also vs. Cleveland and somehow went 0-3 in those games. The Packers’ odds of losing all three contests were 1-in-250,000, yet they somehow did it.
“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.
Rebounding won’t be easy as the Packers were hit hard in free agency and didn’t have a first round draft pick.
Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 29. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2026 campaign.
At No. 7 is running back Josh Jacobs.
No. 7
Josh Jacobs, RB
Last season
Jacobs started all 15 games he played and recorded a team-high 929 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 234 carries (4.0 average). Jacobs joined fullback Jim Taylor (1961-62) as the only players in team history to record 13-plus rushing touchdowns in back-to-back seasons.
Jacobs tied for fourth in the NFL in rushing touchdowns and posted a rushing touchdown in 10 games, which tied for No. 1 in the NFL. He also ranked second on the team with 36 receptions for 282 yards (7.8) and a receiving touchdown.
Jacobs was also inactive for two games — Week 12 with a knee injury and Week 18 as a healthy scratch.
Career to date
Jacobs ranks No. 2 in the NFL in rushing yards (7,803) and rushing touchdowns (74), and No. 3 in yards from scrimmage (9,875) since entering the league in 2019.
Jacobs is one of four players in league history to post 7,500-plus rushing yards, 70-plus rushing touchdowns, 250-plus receptions and 2,000-plus receiving yards in his first seven NFL seasons, joining Emmitt Smith, LaDainian Tomlinson and Barry Sanders. Jacobs is also the only player in the league to register 1,100-plus yards from scrimmage and six-plus scrimmage touchdowns in each of the last seven seasons (2019-25).
Jacobs compiled 5,545 rushing yards and 46 rushing touchdowns during his five seasons with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. He also had 197 receptions for 1,448 yards (7.4 yards per catch) in that time.
Jacobs was an All-Pro selection in 2020 when he ran for 1,065 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also earned All-Pro honors in 2022 when he had the finest year of his career (1,653 rushing yards, 12 TDs).
Jacobs was also named the Pro Football Writers Association’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 after setting a Raiders franchise rookie rushing record with 1,150 yards.
During Jacobs’ first year as a Packer in 2024, he finished sixth in the NFL in rushing yards (1,329), averaged 4.4 yards per carry and had 16 total touchdowns (15 rushing). His rushing yards were the fifth most in a single season in team history and his rushing TDs tied for third-most in a season.
According to TruMedia, Jacobs ranked third in the league with 1,080 yards after contact — a whopping 81.3% of his total yards. Jacobs also ranked 10th in the league that season in explosive runs (12 yards or more) with 23.
In addition, Jacobs caught 36 passes for 342 yards (9.5 average) and a touchdown.
Thanks in large part to Jacobs, the Packers finished fifth in the league in rushing yards per game in 2024 (146.8) and Jacobs was named to the Pro Bowl for the third time in his six-year career.
Outlook
Jacobs was arrested on May 26, 2026, in connection to a domestic dispute that occurred days earlier, leading to bookings for preliminary charges that included domestic abuse battery, disorderly conduct, and felony strangulation/suffocation.
The Brown County District Attorney’s office released him the following day, though, stating they were not yet prepared to file charges and needed to request additional investigation. To date, no formal charges have been issued.
Jacobs took part in OTA’s and minicamps, and is expected to be on hand when training camp begins on July 29.
Jacobs, who turned 28 in February, has 1,840 career carries. And while Jacobs was solid in 2025, he wasn’t as productive as 2024.
The Packers’ desperately need him, though.
Green Bay’s running back depth is razor thin, so they’re crossing their collective fingers that they’ll have Jacobs when they open the year in Minnesota on Sept. 13.
No. 2 running back Marshawn Lloyd has missed 33 of 34 career games due to injury. No. 3 Chris Brooks is a solid blocker, but a below average runner.
That’s why having Jacobs is imperative to any success Green Bay’s rushing attack might have in 2026.
They said it …
“That’s my guy. So, I didn’t really know too much until obviously it came out, but we’re all in support of him, and we understand things happen. Like I get things happen, but we’re all in support of him regardless of what’s going on.” — Xavier McKinney on Jacobs’ off-the-field issues
“He’s going to have the same ability that he did the first year, where he was obviously a Pro Bowl caliber player. That’s my expectations of him and obviously there’s a lot of things that happened within the game, within the season, that could derail what expectations are. But … I mean, he still looks as effective as he did when he first got here.”— Packers running backs coach Ben Sirmans on Jacobs
“There’s always questions. I was shocked when I saw it, and like I said, it’s one of those things we’re going to let it play out. There’s a lot of uncertainty when you hear something like that of what might happen. But we’ll see, we’ll let it play out and go from there.” — Packers quarterback Jordan Love on Jacobs’ legal issues