The Las Vegas Raiders offense returns mostly intact, though it’ll look much different in the backfield as they lost Josh Jacobs to the Green Bay Packers in free agency.
Jacobs signed a four-year, $48 million deal with Green Bay, though the latter has team options for the final two seasons, effectively making it a two-year deal. However, it’s still quite the haul for Jacobs who played on a one-year deal worth roughly the same amount last season.
The star running back had a relatively down year in 2023 after leading the NFL in rushing yards the year prior. His contract negotiations with the Raiders were highly documented as the two sides couldn’t agree to a long-term extension.
In an appearance on Green Light with Chris Long, Jacobs revealed that it got frustrating working as hard as he did for no results and not getting compensated for his efforts as transcribed by raidersbeat.com:
“The most frustrating thing about it all I feel like, especially when you got like me, Tae, and Maxx… you got guys that come in every day and work hard, and you don’t get the results. And then it gets to the point where like, ‘Okay, I’m working hard, and I’m doing every little detail, every little step, and I’m still not getting the results.
“So I didn’t have the answers. And that’s the part that was the most frustrating. It’s like, okay, you do everything that you’re asked of, but you still don’t get the result that you want or this or that. And it’s like you’ll be close, but every year you’re close, but it’s not winning. So that was a big thing for me, too. I’m like, ‘Man, you all want me to come back on a discount and lose? I don’t know how I feel about that.’”
It’s quite a candid comment from Jacobs, who clearly grew tired of playing for Las Vegas after all the contract drama. It was no secret that the Raiders would’ve preferred to have him back on a cheaper deal, but it was good for Jacobs that he sought a longer-term deal elsewhere.
Zamir White says Raiders were really on in OTAs
With Jacobs out of the picture, second-year running back Zamir White is expected to be the team’s new starting running back. During OTAs, the Raiders seemed upbeat and positive, and White noted how the group as a whole was on it.
