Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Report: Josh Jacobs Not Reporting to Training Camp Without New Deal
While many fans never considered Josh Jacobs to be the starting running back for Alabama football, no one can deny the impact he made on the field. His 1,491 rushing yards, 571 receiving yards, and 69 total touchdowns as a member of the Crimson Tide backfield landed Jacobs the 24th-overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Four years later, Jacobs has a firm grasp on a starting role for the Raiders, and he is coming off of a 2022 season that saw him lead the league in rushing yards with 1,653 and 12 touchdowns while also accumulating 400 receiving yards. It was Jacobs's most productive year in the league, and he did it in a contract year. Surely that would lead to a long-term commitment from the Raiders to lock in Jacobs as the team's starting RB for the foreseeable future, right?
That doesn't seem to be the case. The Raiders have been hesitant to extend their leading tailback, despite his posting over 1,000 yards rushing in three of his four years in the league and posting 12 touchdowns twice.
In a league that appears to value offensive output and high-velocity scoring, the running back market has not been a participant in the recent trend of offensive contracts. While the best quarterbacks in the game are making upwards of $50 million per year, and the best wide receivers are making upwards of $25 million per year, the top running backs in the game are only making between $10-$16 million per year, and none of the top running backs have any commitment to them past the 2026 season.
On March 15 of this year, the Raiders placed the franchise tag on Jacobs, locking him into the team at a fully guaranteed $10.1 million deal for one season. Jacobs has previously stated that he has no interest whatsoever in playing under the franchise tag, claiming he would be a "hero turned villain."
Consequently, Jacobs plans to sit out training camp if he doesn't get his long-term deal. In a recent interview with Villicana of FOX5 Las Vegas, Jacobs mentioned that, for the first time in his career, "I went into the offseason feeling great, not because of what I achieved, but body-wise. The whole offseason I haven't had to do any rehab, I'm just training."
Could Jacobs sit out the entire 2023 season? It is possible. When the Pittsburgh Steelers placed the franchise tag on Le'Veon Bell in 2018, Bell sat out the entirety of training camp, then proceeded to sit out the entirety of the 2018 NFL season, as he had no long-term contract agreement.
Jacobs and the Raiders reportedly have until Monday, July 17 at 1 ET to get a long-term contract agreed upon.
SEE ALSO: Mark Ingram II Still Taking Football by Force in a New Way
