Raiders News: Josh Jacobs Missed Practice Due To ‘Prescribed’ Off-Day
Josh Jacobs, Raiders
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

As the Las Vegas Raiders officially began the 2020 season with their first team practice on Wednesday, they were without one of their most important players. Second-year standout running back Josh Jacobs did not practice with the team on Wednesday, leaving many to speculate on his status.

Some tied it back to the shoulder injury that Jacobs suffered during his rookie year. While he was far from open about it, it was revealed after the workhorse rushed for 1,000 yards that he played a chunk of the season with a fractured shoulder. Because of this, lingering issues and pain became the go-to for why he may have missed the first official practice of 2020.

However, this is far from the truth, as Jacobs revealed that the plan was to miss this day all along, calling it a prescribed off-day from the training staff, according to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:

It’s certainly a positive development that Jacobs believes this is the best he’s felt in a while. Given that the back combined for 1,316 yards and seven touchdowns in just 13 games, him feeling even better than he did last year could mean trouble for opposing defenses.

With this being an off-day for Jacobs, he should be back on Thursday. He’ll have a chance to prove he’s at his healthiest in just one month when the Raiders season begins against the Carolina Panthers.

Raiders Pro Bowl tackle Trent Brown also missed Wednesday’s practice and although there was no reason given, it could be a similar situation to Jacobs.

Raiders make “crush the virus” T-shirts with practices beginning Wednesday

While the goal of every NFL season is to get through all 16 games with as many wins and as many players healthy as possible, this season will have another layer of issues to deal with due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a mix between a joke and a confidence booster, the Raiders revealed “Crush the Virus” T-shirts that we can only assume head coach Jon Gruden had some type of influence on, according to Vincent Bonsignore of Las Vegas Review Journal:

In addition to their opponents this season, the Raiders will also be battling against coronavirus, and it is clear they are taking that very seriously.