There’s no longer any doubt surrounding Josh Jacobs‘ availability for Week 1. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the Raiders running back has agreed to a revised contract with the organization. Jacobs has since confirmed the news on Twitter.
Per Pelissero, Jacobs signed an “upgraded” one-year pact worth up to $12MM. Jacobs was previously attached to the $10.091MM franchise tag, but he’ll now earn a base salary of $11.8MM next season, according to Pelissero. The RB can earn another $200K via incentives, leading to the $12MM number.
The revised deal will also have some future implications on Jacobs and the Raiders. Pelissero tweets that Jacobs’ new deal could help boost a potential 2024 franchise tag value to north of $14MM.
After Jacobs no-showed training camp and the preseason, there were some questions if he would extend his holdout into the regular season. However, it sounds like both sides made significant progress this week to get the star RB back on the field. According to Pelissero, the player and agent Chad Wiestling flew to Las Vegas this week to meet with Raiders officials. The reporter adds that Jacobs will be at the team facility on Sunday to officially sign the contract.
Jacobs lost some leverage when he failed to sign a long-term contract with the organization by the July 17 deadline. However, the player sounded sincere when he threatened to sit out the 2023 campaign due to dissatisfaction with not only his contract, but the RB market in general. Since Jacobs didn’t ink his franchise tag, he wasn’t subject to fines from the organization for his absence.
After the sides failed to agree to a new deal, there were whispers that the Raiders and Jacobs made considerable progress in the hours leading up to the deadline, and that framework may have been important in this revised deal. Later reports indicated that the Raiders offered Jacobs a deal worth $12MM a season, a value that was ultimately reflected in his reworked one-year pact.
While Jacobs has been absent from Raiders camp up to this point, there seemed to be some optimism regarding Jacobs availability for the start of the regular season. This was especially true when fellow franchise-tagged running back Saquon Barkley signed a revised deal with the Giants, perhaps paving the way for Jacobs to ink a reworked deal in Las Vegas. The Raiders also made it clear throughout the process that they had no intention of trading Jacobs, although that didn’t stop teams like the Chiefs, Broncos, and Dolphins from reaching out.
While the player’s future with the organization is still cloudy, both sides can enter the 2023 campaign knowing that the RB will be leading the backfield. With Derek Carr no longer on the squad, the offense will be counting on Jacobs more than ever. The RB had his best season in 2022, finishing with 2,053 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns en route to a first-team All-Pro nod.
Zamir White seemed like the top candidate to take over the RB1 spot if Jacobs sat out regular season games. With the starter definitively playing next season, the team may be willing to hold fewer running backs than they originally intended. The rest of the team’s depth chart at the position includes pass-catching veteran Ameer Abdullah, special teams ace Brandon Bolden, former Chiefs RB Damien Williams, and young options like Brittain Brown, Sincere McCormick, and Darwin Thompson.
Fantastic, this guy won me a FFB championship last year, lets see if we can repeat.
You’re not in a league with a bunch of creampuffs this time around. PFR has some elite members that will give you some managing lessons. I’ve heard a few spots are still open with info at footballrumorsffb@gmail.com on how to get in on the action.
So he gets close to $2 mil more than the tag and got to skip training camp. Pretty good deal.
All that drama for 2 mill lmao
What drama? You think he was going to leave at least $10mil on the table while he sat home? This was always the way it was going to end.
That’s what I’m saying. Holding out on camp and all the media headlines over 2 mill
Two million dollars is a lot of money.
Well, maybe to us…
It is. That’s not my point lol
Oh, don’t get me wrong, that wasn’t directed at you. I actually agree.
Oh
NFL RB zoom meeting to rally the troops to make significant change:
“Here’s our strategy: the guys who can reset the RB market should do whatever is necessary to ensure the future of the position.”
Barkley & Jacobs: “you mean like a one year deal for a little bit over the franchise tag salary?”
Cook & Elliot: “or we could sign one year deals for under $10 million!”
Everyone else: “You’re joking, right?”
I don’t think the RBs need a strategy. GMs are realizing quickly that $50M per year for an elite QB significantly handcuffs their ability to upgrade other positions on the roster. It’s only a matter of time until the current model becomes unsustainable and has to be modified. At that point the RB position will regain some of it’s diminished value.
Agree. Everything is cyclical just happens to suck for these guys right now.
Didn’t he turn down $13m a year?
No
There was a rumor he was offered 12 million a year on a 2 year deal..but never confirmed. As much as I know.
So the Raiders declined his 5th year option. Then franchise tagged him only to pay him anyways? Can’t he be tagged one more time?….Seems odd the Raiders could’ve got 7 years of control if they really wanted to abuse the RB market.. Jacobs may come out better in the long run IF the market turns and he gets a larger second contract
That’s mastermind Josh McD at work. So brilliant that no one can follow his logic.
This isn’t isolated to Josh McDaniels but go ahead and single him out lol
If I read correctly it appears they could very well tag him again (the bit about a [possible] $14 mil cap figure).
My question is, if rb’s are a dime a dozen, nobody wants to pay them, Yada yada..why would they tag him at $14 mil when he’s another year older and beat up?
Bonus question is why didn’t he insist on a “you can’t tag me again” clause in this deal (or refuse to sign if he did ask, and they didn’t agree)?
You’d think that it’d be easier to just sign Jacobs to a bigger deal if they wanted to keep him, or go the other way entirely and trade him if they didn’t. On one hand, Vegas believes that backs are replaceable and not worth the cap hit of even a midlevel deal. On the other, they refuse to get rid of their own back and replace him. It’s rather silly.
They’re just following the trend. The pay for RB’s might fall off a bit, and then the teams who are currently devaluing them by claiming they’re so easy to replace will be trading (or trying to) in 2 years if they think they’re close to a SB run and don’t like the guys they have. Then prices will start going up again.
I could believe it. Of course, the Raiders have been in near constant flux since they fired Jack Del Rio after a 12 win season. Not picking up Jacobs’ option was a silly move, and they should have made that decision with this very issue in mind. Their handling of this player has been absurd.
I do think that you’re right in the grand scheme of things, of which this saga is a part. How soon that happens, though, I don’t know.
They fired Jack Del Rio after the 2017 season when they went 6-10
I was there in Los Angeles when Jack was fired. He had lost control of the team and just completed the second 4 game losing streak of the season. I was also there in Washington week 3 when the wheels went off the track. Carr refused to take a knee during the Anthem and the O-line refused to block for him.
Also, Mark Davis was very open and honest that if he could ever convince Jon Gruden to come back to coach that was the direction the franchise would go.
Summed it up perfectly. Great post.
Should have refused to sign unless there was a “no franchise tag” clause for 2024
I do not think Jacobs is going to find any team willing to pay him $14 million next year. Realistically if he went out next year and got a 3 year $36 million deal (which is a good deal considering the market) that wouldn’t be better than the tag.
Jacobs actually lucked out not having his 5th year option picked up. Now he can get his $14 million next year (if the Raiders want to tag him) then hit the open market and secure a long term deal. By that time maybe the RB market is a little more stable and JJ can get a nice deal on another team. But let’s say that the market for RB’s goes down even further next year, well then the $14 tag looks even better. Barring an injury this is setting up nicely for JJ imo.
One last thing, imo the best way to help the RB market is to allow running backs to hit the open market a year earlier, so the Vegas Raiders unintentionally gave JJ exactly what he needed.