{"id":788505,"date":"2026-03-03T07:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/788505\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T07:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T07:28:18","slug":"the-packers-suddenly-need-running-back-depth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/788505\/","title":{"rendered":"The Packers Suddenly Need Running Back Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Green Bay Packers\u2019 reported<\/a> decision not to tender running back Emanuel Wilson<\/a> will send Green Bay\u2019s reliable No. 2 to unrestricted free agency. Of course, there\u2019s always a chance Green Bay could re-sign Wilson, but that seems doubtful considering the way the RB market is shaping up, coupled with the Packers not tendering him in the first place.<\/p>\n

Now the Packers are all of a sudden in the market for running back depth.<\/p>\n

General manager Brian Gutekunst doubled down on his Josh Jacobs<\/a> stance at the NFL Combine when he stated<\/a> Jacobs will \u201cabsolutely\u201d be the featured back in 2026. Gutekunst said something similar<\/a>, although not identical, about Aaron Jones<\/a> just a couple of years ago, before releasing Jones later that offseason. With Jacobs, it feels different<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If we are to take Gutekunst at his word on this one, the Packers have checked the box of starting running back for 2026. Behind Jacobs, things get pretty wonky.<\/p>\n

Wilson wasn\u2019t just filler for the Packers, either. The durable back carried the rock over 100 times in each of the last two seasons and racked up 502 yards in 2024 and 496 last season. Filling those shoes won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n

In an ideal world, 2024 third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd<\/a> would take the baton. But it would be incredibly risky to rely on Lloyd\u2019s health<\/a> after the past two years. The last time we heard Lloyd\u2019s name mentioned was in December<\/a> when head coach Matt LaFleur all but ruled him out for the year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s very, very, very unfortunate, because this guy has worked his ass off to battle back and to be in that spot again, what do you say to him? We\u2019ll continue to investigate and try to figure out why this keeps occurring, but it\u2019s certainly unfortunate. I feel bad, I really do, I feel extremely bad for MarShawn.<\/p>\n

Lloyd didn\u2019t return and didn\u2019t play in a single game in 2025 due to injuries. Despite his college tape<\/a> looking good, Lloyd has been unable to stay healthy. It hasn\u2019t just been one nagging injury, either, and the sheer quantity of health woes has started to pile up.<\/p>\n

Green Bay could cross its fingers and roll the dice, betting that Lloyd gets healthy in 2026. It\u2019s unlikely the Packers take that gamble, though. With Wilson possibly on his way out and the same for Chris Brooks<\/a>, Green Bay will be in the market for depth and a potential RB2.<\/p>\n

Using a luxury draft pick on the position feels like a stretch, given that Jacobs should be back and the Packers have other pressing needs. In a year where the Packers don\u2019t have a first-round pick, taking a running back with their first or second selection in Round 2 or 3 would border on shocking.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll have to fill that group out in some capacity, though, and later in the draft would be a more likely opportunity. And, of course, there\u2019s always free agency.\u00a0Taking a big swing on someone like\u00a0Kenneth Walker<\/a> is unlikely given Jacobs\u2019 pending return. Still, the Packers will have to fill out the running back room one way or another.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear how the Packers view Lloyd\u2019s potential. At this point, they might expect very little, and any production he can provide is a pleasant surprise. That\u2019s why bringing back either Wilson or Brooks made sense. Wilson has familiarity with the system and ran in the No. 2 role each of the last two seasons. On paper, it was an obvious fit, but the Packers are choosing to use financial resources elsewhere.<\/p>\n

As long as Jacobs stays healthy, he could be a bell cow like he was in 2024. A knee injury<\/a> suffered against the New York Giants, further aggravated weeks later in Denver, limited Jacobs in the second half of last season, and he didn\u2019t quite look the same for large stretches after that.<\/p>\n

At age 28, it\u2019s a safe bet that as long as Jacobs is healthy in 2026, he can carry the workload. He was one of just six running backs to eclipse 300 carries in 2024 and was third in rushing touchdowns with 15. Last year felt like an outlier more than a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

Even an optimistic assessment of Jacobs\u2019 2026 health status doesn\u2019t change the fact that the Packers need talent behind him. And, with Lloyd remaining a mystery box \u2014 perhaps never to be opened, at this point \u2014 Green Bay suddenly has a pressing new item on its to-do list this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green Bay Packers\u2019 reported decision not to tender running back Emanuel Wilson will send Green Bay\u2019s reliable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[8431,7,41,345,2514,2513,4129,5393,6,428],"class_list":["post-788505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-bay-packers","tag-emanuel-wilson","tag-football","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-greenbay","tag-greenbaypackers","tag-josh-jacobs","tag-marshawn-lloyd","tag-nfl","tag-packers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116164067562512587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788505","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=788505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}