The Green Bay Packers are looking to build a contender once again in the NFC North after the emergence of Jordan Love over the course of his first season as starter in 2023. By the end of the season and the playoffs, Love looked like a top-10 QB in the league as Green Bay appears set to once again seamlessly transition from one longtime starter to another after trading Aaron Rodgers to New York.
A lot of the Packers success last year coincided with Aaron Jones returning to form and good health, as having a dynamic rushing attack opened things up tremendously for their offense. That seemed to turn on a light bulb in the Green Bay front office coming into this offseason, as they looked to bolster their running back room with A.J. Dillon becoming a free agent after a down year. Jones and the Packers are headed into the final year of his deal, and while the Packers are looking to re-sign him coming off of such a strong close to the season, they have gone out and added another star back in free agency in a bit of a shocker, landing former Raiders standout back Josh Jacobs.
Green Bay has worked with Aaron Jones on a new deal, and they were in the market for a RB. Now, one of the best out there. https://t.co/zMt2bI0KMq
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2024
The financial details of the signing aren’t known yet, and will obviously be important to how positive this signing is for the Packers. Jacobs is a year removed from leading the league with 1,653 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns in 2022, but last year he was not able to replicate that success, rushing for 805 yards in 13 games before ending his season due to a quad injury. The Packers will hope his down year was more a product of a training camp holdout and a Raiders offense that didn’t have much going for it at the quarterback position, and that Jacobs can regain his form on a consistent basis in Green Bay. If the Packers do bring Jones back as well on a new deal, they would figure to have one of the top running back tandems in the league to alleviate pressure from Love and create a dynamic offense capable of hurting a defense at every level.
For the Raiders, they’ll now turn to Zamir White as their lead back but will have plenty to address on offense as free agency continues and the Draft nears closer.