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Source Says Packers RB Josh Jacobs Will Have Pregame Workout

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who is chasing history this week, will test his injured calf during a pregame workout to determine whether he will play on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) rushes against the Arizona Cardinals last season.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) rushes against the Arizona Cardinals last season. | Wm. Glasheen USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who injured a calf at Friday’s practice and was listed as questionable on the injury report, will go through a pregame workout to determine whether he will play on Sunday at the Arizona Cardinals, according to a source.

Jacobs will push to play and intends to play, but he obviously is one of the most important players on the team, meaning a potentially conservative approach.

Update: Jacobs is active and has a chance to make NFL history (more on that later). Emanuel Wilson probably will play a key role, anyway.

Since joining the Packers in free agency last offseason, Jacobs has been a workhorse. Even with the early bye, Jacobs entered Week 7 ranked fifth with 98 rushing attempts in five games, 17 less than the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor’s league-high 115 carries in six games. However, he’s only 17th with 359 yards. Of 46 players with at least 36 rushing attempts, Jacobs is 38th with 3.66 yards per carry.

He’s gotten rolling the last two weeks, though, with 22 carries for 86 yards and four catches for 71 yards before the bye at Dallas and 18 carries for 93 yards and five catches for 57 yards after the bye while playing sick against Cincinnati.

For the Cardinals, the game plan started with stopping Jacobs. In last year’s game, won by the Packers 34-13, the Cardinals limited Jacobs to 62 yards on 18 carries. With Wilson’s production, the Packers ran for 179.

“You’ve got to affect the quarterback, and you have to get up and challenge those receivers because they play the game in space, and you want to try to take away some of the space and access,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said this week. 

“Obviously, Josh Jacobs is a really good player. We did not do a good job stopping the run last year when we went there and, really, they’ve run it pretty much every game. I know they had the bye and they’ve played five games, but they’ve run it kind of when they want to run it. Big-time challenge.”

Jacobs is more than just a runner.

Jacobs is third on the team with 15 receptions and fourth with 176 receiving yards. He leads the NFL with 12.67 yards after the catch per catch.

“He’s a guy that he’s always an outlet for me,” quarterback Jordan Love said. “I know when I get the ball down to him, he’s going to pick up a couple extra yards. Yeah, there’s some times where it’s on the sideline where he can catch a ball, get out of bounds and avoid some hits. But I’m never worried about that with Josh. I think he’s a guy that’s always looking for contact.”

Oh, about that history: Jacobs can become the fourth player ever with at least 150 scrimmage yards and two rushing touchdowns in three consecutive games within a single season, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson (four consecutive games in 2006 with the San Diego Chargers), Chris Johnson (three in 2009 with Tennessee) and Ricky Williams (three in 2002 with Miami).

With 18 carries for 84 yards, Wilson is no slouch. His 4.67-yard average is 1-yard better than Jacobs this season. He’s averaged 3.39 yards after contract compared to 3.11 for Jacobs, according to Pro Football Focus.

Wilson had one of the best games of his career before the bye at Dallas. With Jacobs dealing with a cut on his knee, Wilson carried eight times for 44 yards added three receptions for 37 yards in the 40-40 tie.

The backfield will be rounded out by Chris Brooks and Pierre Strong, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday.

Brooks carried 36 times for 183 yards and one touchdown last season. This year, he has two carries for 2 yards and five catches for 30 yards in 40 snaps. Most of his playing time has come in two-back sets in which he served as the fullback.

Strong, a fourth-round pick by the Patriots in 2022, has rushed for 499 yards (5.0 average), caught 26 passes (7.4 average) and scored touchdowns in 46 career games. He has 17 tackles on special teams, including eight with the Browns in 2023.

The Packers will not get a sympathy card from the Cardinals. Pro Bowler James Conner, who had more than 1,500 total yards last year, is out for the season, top backup Trey Benson is on injured reserve and Emari Demercado is out.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.