{"id":745745,"date":"2026-02-11T22:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/745745\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:26:16","slug":"josh-jacobs-isnt-in-the-same-situation-aaron-jones-was-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/745745\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Jacobs Isn’t In the Same Situation Aaron Jones Was In 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a career year in 2024 with the Green Bay Packers, 2025 was a bit more bumpy for running back Josh Jacobs<\/a>. A knee injury in Week 11 against the New York Giants hampered Jacobs down the stretch, and an inconsistent offensive line didn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n

Despite Jacobs not building on his Year 1 success in Green Bay, any talk of the Packers moving on from him is misguided and likely inaccurate.<\/p>\n

Some contrarians will point back to 2024 when general manager Brian Gutekunst said<\/a> the Packers \u201cabsolutely\u201d wanted running back Aaron Jones<\/a> back before bringing in Jacobs and releasing Jones.<\/p>\n

Yeah, absolutely, we\u2019d love to have Aaron back. We\u2019re still putting all those things together as we move forward, but he was such a difference maker when he was out there this year. He changed a lot of the way we operated when he was in there and healthy. For us, it\u2019s finding a way to keep him out there and keeping him healthy. He\u2019s such an influential leader in our locker room, the heartbeat of our team.<\/p>\n

It sure sounded like a general manager who wanted the running back to return. After Jones wouldn\u2019t take<\/a> a massive pay cut, he was off to<\/a> Minnesota, while the Packers slotted Jacobs in as their new RB1.<\/p>\n

Gutekunst spoke similarly<\/a> about Jacobs at a recent press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cJosh is a warrior. Really important part of our football team,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cEverything that he brings to us on the field, in the locker room, he\u2019s an important part, and I think he\u2019s got a lot of good years left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could this be another case of Gutekunst praising a running back only to move on from him months later?<\/p>\n

To put a fine point on it: No.<\/p>\n

When the Packers released Jones, they had already agreed to a deal with Jacobs. For a few hours, we were living in a world where Packers fans believed it would be a two-headed monster at running back in 2024. Of course, they could always agree to a deal with another running back once free agency starts and cut ties with Jacobs. Still, they let Jones go because he wouldn\u2019t accept the pay cut.<\/p>\n

Josh Jacobs has a $10 million base salary<\/a> in 2026 and a $14.5 million cap hit. On the surface, it may sound substantial. Still, Green Bay has bigger fish to fry when it comes to bloated player contracts that they must restructure or let go.<\/p>\n

On top of all of this, look at Green Bay\u2019s running back room.<\/p>\n

After being a third-round selection in 2024, MarShawn Lloyd<\/a> has played a grand total of one regular-season game in two NFL seasons. Injuries have derailed<\/a> Lloyd\u2019s chance to get on the field and earn his keep. While he still maintains some intrigue, banking on Lloyd staying healthy for 2026 would be extremely reckless.<\/p>\n

Emanuel Wilson<\/a> had a phenomenal season<\/a> as the RB2, but is a restricted free agent this offseason. Chris Brooks<\/a> will also be a restricted free agent. Therefore, Green Bay\u2019s running back room has far more questions than answers. Meanwhile, Jacobs is under contract and at a reasonable price and is only entering his age-28 season. When the Packers let Jones go, he was coming off a year where he played 11 games and was entering his age-30 season.<\/p>\n

Releasing Jacobs to go after the likes of Kenneth Walker<\/a> or Breece Hall<\/a> in free agency would be a lateral move. Considering his age and production, Jacobs still has prime years left, and it would benefit the Packers to keep him as the bell cow.<\/p>\n

If Lloyd were healthy and emerging as a dominant force after two years on the field, maybe this is a different story. If Wilson wasn\u2019t set to be a restricted free agent, perhaps that could change the expectations. Those aren\u2019t the reality for the Packers, though. They need Jacobs in 2026, and he should be expected to be a core part of the offense.<\/p>\n

Gutekunst showered Jacobs with praise at his recent press conference. Sure, in some ways, it sounded familiar to the words said about Jones in 2024. The situations differ, though. Even though Jacobs is coming off a less-than-ideal season, he still racked up 13 rushing touchdowns and 929 rushing yards in 15 games. And that was in a down year for Jacobs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not impossible that the Packers approach Josh Jacobs about tinkering with his 2026 contract. If those conversations transpire, though, it should only be to convert his base salary into a signing bonus, which would reduce the cap hit. Any talk of the Packers moving on from Jacobs in 2026 should dissolve quickly. Gutekunst did a good job of kick-starting that with his comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a career year in 2024 with the Green Bay Packers, 2025 was a bit more bumpy for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2072],"tags":[6912,2945,7,41,345,2514,2513,4129,6,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-745745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-aaron-jones","9":"tag-brian-gutekunst","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-green-bay","12":"tag-green-bay-packers","13":"tag-greenbay","14":"tag-greenbaypackers","15":"tag-josh-jacobs","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116054352697485257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}