From a team-building perspective, the Raiders' decision to move on from Josh Jacobs was defensible. Some of his stats were starting to trend the wrong way over his last couple seasons in Las Vegas, and between the state of the running back market and the Raiders' new GM, the writing was on the wall.
The optics, however, were tough. Jacobs was one of the team's best players through some lean years, and letting a still-very-productive running back who's only 26 walk felt a bit like the team was cutting off its nose to spite its face. Jacobs landed a big deal with the Packers, where he'll be the guy in Green Bay after the team put AJ Dillon on IR with a season-ending neck injury.
Those bad optics got even worse for the Raiders this week, as The Athletic profiled Jacobs ($$) and his move from Las Vegas to Green Bay. Essentially, Jacobs won the breakup.
Josh Jacobs doesn't seem too broken up about leaving Las Vegas
"When the Packers offered $48 million over four years, he was intrigued, but he still pictured himself as a Raider for life. In his mind, his first team wasn’t his employer as much as his home. So he gave the Raiders an opportunity to match. When they said no, he told them he would accept less than the Packers offered if they included incentives. The Raiders turned him down ... "
“I really didn’t want to up and move,” he said. “But I could tell that s— was over with.”
Great! Love it! You may think it'd sting to hear that Jacobs' first priority was staying in Las Vegas for the heart of his career, but any Raiders fan will tell you that they don't actually feel anything anymore. His father is literally quoted saying that, "God kind of groomed him to deal with the Raiders, but now I’m excited to see how well he can do with stability.” Wonderful stuff all around!
It's nice to see Jacobs is happy and doing well in Green Bay. Maybe we all just focus on that and we'll be able to forget literally every other detail in that piece.