2023 was about as up and down as you could get for a player when it came to Josh Jacobs. Through the first seven weeks of the season, he was only an RB1 once, and probably for a majority of you, given his ADP, you drafted him to be your RB1 on your team. Then, it seemed like things were starting to turn around. Over the next five weeks, Jacobs found himself as an RB1 three separate times. Then the Raiders had the bye; he came back and got injured.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, Josh Jacobs' high for rushing yards in a game was only 77. There are a couple of different things that can come into play with that. Number one, Josh McDaniels just doesn't know what he's doing as a head coach. He's a fine offensive coordinator, or maybe Tom Brady just made him, but as a head coach, the guy just doesn't seem to get it. Number two, the play style of the Las Vegas Raiders and their issues at the quarterback position. Unfortunately, with Aiden O'Connell and Jimmy Garoppolo, they just were not doing enough in the passing game to open up things for Josh Jacobs. It was inconsistent carries, inconsistency in the game planning, and poor play at the quarterback position.
But then things started to change when Antonio Pierce took over. He said, "Hey, I've got guys on this team that need to have the ball in their hands more often." Over the next four weeks, Josh Jacobs ran for 98 or more yards in three of his four games. But that injury at the end of the year completely derailed any type of progress that he was making during that span. The one thing it did do for us is it didn't allow us to see what he would do with the volume the rest of the year.
Josh Jacobs has been a terrific running back since entering the NFL, and the majority of the time, his efficiency is very, very good. Now that he'll be in Green Bay, hopefully, there will be a more steady game flow for him. With such a good passing game around him and a better offensive line, he can take some of that efficiency that he used to have, couple it with the volume that he'll have in Green Bay, and lock himself into a top-10 spot this season.
I'm not willing to go super high with Josh Jacobs. There are some guys that I just like a little bit more this season, and I do think Green Bay will tend to throw the ball a little bit more often than they run it. But Josh Jacobs should be settled in firmly as the RB1 on that team, and he probably won't lose a ton of touches to Marshawn Lloyd or AJ Dillon.
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