Raiders RB Josh Jacobs has legendary season amongst the chaos
Despite the disappointing season for his team, Josh Jacobs recorded the second-best season ever by a Raiders running back and secured the NFL rushing title
Coming into the season the buzz around Josh Jacobs was that his role as the Raiders’ lead back may be under threat. The front office declined his 5th-year option before the season and they used a third-round pick on Georgia running back Zamir “Zeus” White who would presumably be his replacement.
Raiders beat writer Vic Tafur even said that he would not target Jacobs in fantasy football because of how highly the team thought of White. Early in the season, it seemed that that was indeed the case as Jacobs had just 10 attempts in Week One and only 19 in Week Two despite the Raiders being up 20–0 at halftime against the Arizona Cardinals.
Things got even worse for Jacobs as he recorded just 13 rushing attempts in Week Three despite the Raiders being within two scores for much of the game against the Titans.
Josh McDaniels finally realized what he had in Jacobs as he unleashed a young running back with a 28 carry, 144-yard, and two touchdown game in Week Four. It was no coincidence that the Raiders recorded their first win of the season in Jacob’s first big game of the year.
He followed that Denver performance with two performances just like it against Kansas City and Houston and was the primary reason the Raiders were in the game against the eventual number-one seed in the AFC.
Raiders Josh Jacobs was the key all season long
A lull of three weeks where the offense in general struggled was followed by another hundred-yard performance against Denver in Week 11, and an absolutely legendary performance against Seattle in Week 12. If Josh Jacobs never wears a Raiders uniform again that cold Sunday after Thanksgiving in Seattle would be his crowning moment. Jacobs rushed 33 times for an absurd 229 yards and added another 74 yards receiving.
He set a single-game record for scrimmage yards for a Raider and won the game with an 86-yard scamper in overtime.
That game solidified the type of season that Jacobs would have and he finished the year as the rushing leader in the NFL with 1,653 yards. He becomes just the third Raider running back to do so alongside Clem Daniels in 1963 and Marcus Allen in 1985.
Jacobs also rushed for 12 touchdowns and added 400 yards receiving to finish with over 2000 scrimmage yards on the year. He was about 100 yards short of having the best rushing season for a Raider as Marcus Allen rushed for 1,759 yards in ’85 but we can forgive him for not being as good as the Hall of Famer.
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What seemed like a foregone conclusion in Week 1 that Jacobs would be on another team in 2023 has turned into Raider Nation hoping and praying that he signs long-term. We can argue about the merits of giving a running back big money but as long as he plays like this, he would be worth every penny. Jacobs loves being a Raider and Raider Nation loves him, so it would only be right that he spends as much time in Silver and Black as possible.