Week 14 in the NFL was a pivotal week for fantasy football players around the country as it was the last week of the regular season for 10-team leagues and the first week of the playoffs for 12-team leagues. As such, tensions were high as fantasy owners tried to set their lineups to either jockey for a playoff spot or to advance to the next round.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs has been one of the most productive backs in fantasy football this season, ranking seventh in points among running backs and, as such, he’s a key piece for an awful lot of teams this week. The Raiders have been a run-heavy offense this season and Jacobs has been the primary recipient of those carries. This week, the Raiders face off against the Colts at home, and while it’s not a super favorable matchup against a very good Indianapolis rush defense, Jacobs still figured to get the start for an awful lot of teams.
Jacobs was listed as active, but posted to Instagram just after the 1 p.m. games kicked off that despite his active status he wasn’t playing, and issued a message to mad fantasy owners.
#Raiders’ RB Josh Jacobs is active today, but he posted on his Instagram story that he’s not playing.
And he included a message to your fantasy team on the bottom. pic.twitter.com/0bx8zpFWBV
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) December 13, 2020
This naturally sent many into a panic, as they tried to figure out how to adjust their lineups and wondered what happened to lead him to not play. However, it appears this was all an elaborate troll by Jacobs who seems to be one of the many NFL players who have had enough of fans asking constantly about fantasy football and getting mad about their performances due to it, and decided to mess with fantasy minded folks in a critical week.
Josh Jacobs dressed out, running around, being active as part of @Raiders pregame
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) December 13, 2020
Raiders’ RB Josh Jacobs appears to have been joking with the fantasy community and is now going through pre-game warmups. https://t.co/12HDqwxIii
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 13, 2020
We’ll find out for sure when the Raiders take the field on offense for the first time, but it certainly appears that Jacobs will be playing and has just created fantasy panic for his own enjoyment.