Doug Martin is ready to help groom Raiders rookie running back Josh Jacobs
Entering the offseason the Raiders were left with holes up and down their roster. With that said, Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock flipped the script and spent some serious money during free-agency, to go along with their mix of early draft picks.
One area of need was the running back position. The Raiders entered the offseason with very few options in their backfield. Those options entailed DeAndre Washington and Chris Warren III. Neither of the running backs having much of a consistent workload in the NFL.
During the mid stages of free agency, Gruden brought aboard Isaiah Crowell, along with bringing back their change of pace back, Jalen Richard. Two more quality options for Derek Carr to hand the ball off, but they still lacked a three down back on their roster.
Furthermore, heading into the draft it appeared Marshawn Lynch‘s time with the team looked to be fairly slim. Perhaps, Gruden still needed his “featured back” and he found one when he selected Josh Jacobs with the 24th overall pick.
Just days after the draft, Isiah Crowell went down with a torn achilles, ending his 2019 season and landing him on injured reserve. With the injury of Crowell, it displayed the importance of the Raiders drafting Jacobs with one of their three first-round picks. Raiders then, brought back Doug Martin for some insurance in the running back department.
Jacobs will likely be asked to carry the ball 15-20 times per game. As well as, Doug Martin getting his share in the running game, and Jalen Richard being the teams primary pass catcher out of the backfield.
According to Scott Blair of NBC Sports, Martin is ready to show Jacobs the ropes.
"“Josh Jacobs, he’s a good kid with good character,” Martin said. “You all heard his story, I read up on it myself. I commend him for being as strong as he is, and that being said I came here to mentor, push him, show him that I’ve been in the league eight years, so I am a vet now. I can’t believe it, but that’s the case and so I’m here to just be that role model for him.“If he has any questions, I’m here for him to ask them. Like I said, he has good character, but at the same time he looks like he can just run you over, so he’s going to be great for the team.”"
Martin has an established reputation in the league after spending six years in Tampa Bay and one year in Oakland. He led the Raiders in rushing last season with 723 rushing yards on 172 attempts.
It appears Martin has embraced his role heading into the 2019 season, providing his veteran leadership with the rookie running back. Martin will be a positive mentor for Jacobs to depend on as the season progresses in his rookie campaign. Martin has rushed for over 1,400 twice in his career, giving the Raiders a high caliber backup for Jacobs to learn from.
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This is the first time in Martin’s career that he’ll serve as a mentor figure, but after sitting out on the free-agent market for quite some time, he appears to have fully embraced his new role with his former team.