HEADLINES

Buccaneers Make Changes In Front Office

May 18th, 2025 at 2:37pm CST by Ely Allen

The immediate few weeks following the NFL draft is usually an active time for staffing changes in the front offices of NFL organizations. The Buccaneers are the latest example of this as they announced some promotions and departures earlier this week.

The team already announced a new assistant general manager and director of football research in the days after the draft. The biggest changes we saw more recently involved the promotions of Mike Biehl, Shane Scannell, Tony Hardie, and Shelton Quarles.

Biehl was elevated from director to vice president of player personnel. He has been with Tampa Bay for 11 years after a 13-year stint in San Diego and three years with the Bills before that. Biehl has been a key figure in the team’s draft process for a decade now and will direct both of the college and pro personnel departments in his new role.

Scannell was promoted from director of pro scouting to director of player personnel. He started out as a scouting assistant in 2015, spent five years as a pro scout, two as assistant director of pro scouting, and two as director. Hardie has been with the Bucs for 14 years, starting as a combine scout for NFS and covering several different areas of the country for the team and company. He eventually became an area scout and a national scout before being promoted to his current role. Quarles joined the team’s front office after a decade of service as a linebacker for the team, eventually ascending up the pro scouting department to director. His focus has shifted a bit more to the ops side of things as he’s been named senior director of football operations.

The Bucs also promoted Jeremiah Bogan and Korey Finnie to college scouts. Finnie had been serving in Hardie’s old combine/NFS scout job before the promotion, while Bogan had been a scouting assistant. To cover the NFS scout role, another scouting assistant, Jordan Morrow, has also been promoted.

Lastly, while one national scout, Hardie, was given a promotion, another national scout departed. According to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com, Antwon Murray has made the decision to part ways with the team. Murray had been with Tampa Bay for nine years and will seek new opportunities in scouting.

Colts DE Samson Ebukam Expects To Be Cleared For Training Camp

May 18th, 2025 at 11:05am CST by Rory Parks

Colts DE Samson Ebukam is entering a contract year, and fortunately for player and team, it appears he will be on the field when training camp begins in July. Per Mike Chappell of Fox 59, Ebukam expects to be medically cleared in time for camp.

Ebukam paced the Colts with 9.5 sacks in 2023, a performance that led to high expectations in 2024. Unfortunately, the former fourth-round pick of the Rams suffered a torn Achilles shortly after last year’s training camp got underway. While Indianapolis placed him on IR with a return designation in the hopes that he could suit up more quickly than expected, that did not materialize, and Ebukam ultimately missed the entire campaign.

His absence is one of the reasons why the Colts, after posting the fifth-most sacks in the league in 2023, finished with the seventh-fewest in 2024. Even with Ebukam in the fold, Indy’s defense was not a particularly stout unit in 2023, but his return, coupled with a shift in organizational philosophy that led to notable deals for Camryn Bynum and Charvarius Ward that are intended to address the club’s secondary woes, should beget an improvement in 2025.

While GM Chris Ballard finally landed a top tight end prospect in the first round of last month’s draft when he turned in the card for Penn State standout Tyler Warren, he continued to fortify the defensive side of the ball on Day 2, when he added Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and Minnesota cornerback Justin Walley. The team did lose Dayo Odeyingbo in free agency but still rosters DeForest Buckner and recent first-round draftees Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu along the defensive front.

Like Ebukam, Paye is going into a platform season. The Michigan product, who has recorded 16.5 sacks over the past two years, is due to earn $13.39MM on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and can take advantage of the booming pass rusher market if he can replicate or improve upon his recent performances.

Ebukam is entering his age-30 season and could therefore face a more limited market next March even if he has a healthy and productive season. Nonetheless, he should still have a number of suitors and a sizable new deal if he can match his 2023 production.

Draft Lottery Not On NFL’s Radar

May 17th, 2025 at 10:17pm CST by Sam Robinson

This week’s NBA lottery produced a Mavericks win despite the much-scrutinized franchise entering the annual event with less than a 2% chance to secure the No. 1 pick. Long-shot lottery wins have become a regular NBA occurrence, as teams with the worst records have seen their odds to land the top choice decrease thanks to a recent change in the lottery system.

In an attempt to curb tanking, the NBA reduced the odds of the team holding the worst record to 14%. The franchises who finish with a bottom-three record each carry a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick entering the lottery; prior to 2019, the team that finished with the league’s worst record carried a 25% chance at the pick. Although NBA lotteries stretching back decades — from the Patrick Ewing- and LeBron James-centered events — have generated intrigue, the 2019 change has increased drama.

Major League Baseball also now uses a lottery system, waiting until 2022 to implement one, and the NHL also uses this setup to determine its draft order. The Mavs’ recent triumph, however, brought some chatter about the NFL following suit. While this topic has come up within the media, it has never exactly been a front-burner matter in league circles.

The NFL has done plenty to increase viewership in recent years, adding extra playoff teams (and moving a wild-card game to Monday night) while making Christmas Day games an annual event and raising its count of international games. A future in which the league plays 16 international games per season has come up, as an 18-game season appears a near-future inevitability. The league also expanded its draft from two days to three back in 2010, and that change — which offered two primetime windows — has benefited the league. A lottery would certainly garner more interest ahead of that event, but as of now, there does not seem much appetite for big-picture change.

No vote about a lottery has taken place in the league previously, and ESPN’s Dan Graziano said during a recent Get Up appearance (h/t Bleacher Report’s Mike Chiari) it is not believed the competition committee has engaged in substantive discussions about such a change. The league, per Graziano, does not believe it has a tanking problem that would warrant a lottery.

Teams maneuvering to land a higher draft slot, of course, has taken place. And recent drafts have shown the value that can come from securing a top pick. The Bears sat Justin Fields in Week 18 of the 2022 season, giving them the No. 1 draft slot — which it traded to the Panthers in a swap that eventually brought Caleb Williams to Chicago — while the Commanders benefited from losing their final eight games in 2023. Washington reduced its chances of winning by trading both Montez Sweat and Chase Young at the 2023 deadline; ownership overruled the Ron Rivera regime on Sweat. This led to Jayden Daniels draft access, which has triggered a sea change in Washington. The Bengals saw the same trajectory shift when they obtained the Joe Burrow draft slot in 2020, outflanking a Dolphins team that became the subject of a tanking investigation.

The Eagles also were not exactly focused on winning when they played a memorable season finale in Washington in 2020, yanking future Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld from a winnable game — one that would have given the Giants the NFC East title in that event. This only netted Philly the No. 6 overall draft slot, but the team acquired a future first-round pick — via the Dolphins’ climb for Jaylen Waddle in 2021 — months after its seminal loss in Washington.

A lottery would protect against teams having clear motivation to lose late-season games, as earning access to certain QB prospects in the draft continues to matter significantly. But with the NFL’s game count at 17 (compared to the 82- and 162-game slates the other sports use), tanking efforts are not nearly as substantial. Coaching staffs not receiving long runways also play into this. So does the trade deadline’s placement. It took until 2024 for the league to even move the deadline until the Tuesday following Week 9. It had stood a week earlier for 12 years, and the NFL had it stationed two weeks earlier in the years prior.

The league’s resistance to change on that front also was aimed at competitive integrity, as it sought to prevent a slew of sellers emerging in a reality in which the deadline landed in the season’s second half — as it does in the NBA, NHL and MLB — rather than midseason. This aim likely is leading to lottery hesitation as well, as Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer indicates a potential concern would be mediocre teams not putting forth best efforts in a push to better their respective lottery positions. The league would surely prefer to avoid more sequences reminding of the Hurts-for-Sudfeld sequence.

This talk of ensuring the status quo comes as the NFL is set to discuss rearranging its playoff field, a move that would be aimed at keeping teams from resting starters to close out seasons. A lottery would at least minimize scenarios in which clubs have the chance to secure the No. 1 pick by losing late-season games. A league that has not been shy about methods of increasing viewership likely will visit this change down the road, but for now, it appears the long-held draft structure will remain for the foreseeable future.

Giants’ Draft Plan Turned Off Some Veteran QB Targets

May 17th, 2025 at 10:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Giants now have their quarterback room assembled, adding Jameis Winston, Russell Wilson and Jaxson Dart to join Tommy DeVito. This is the first room assembled by the current regime, which inherited Daniel Jones and stuck with the Dave Gettleman draftee for three years.

A Winston-Wilson pairing to join Dart did not check in as the Giants’ preference, as the team aggressively pursued Matthew Stafford and extended an offer to Aaron Rodgers. Stafford regrouped with the Rams, spurning Giants and Raiders proposals, while Rodgers’ Vikings preference became clear. The Giants may well have sat third in Rodgers’ rankings, as he met with the Steelers on a visit four days before the Giants agreed to terms with Wilson.

Rodgers held a private discussions with Brian Daboll, according to ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan, who adds some of the available quarterbacks were not onboard with joining a Giants team viewed as one that could then use a high draft choice on the position. Based on how the Steelers proceeded in the draft, Rodgers could certainly be assumed as a player who fits that description. While the increasingly outspoken QB said during a Pat McAfee Show offseason interview he would not object to a team doing what it needed to do in the draft, Pittsburgh not choosing a passer until Round 6 (Will Howard) proves telling.

The Giants made their move much earlier, trading up for Jaxson Dart without using a future first- or second-round pick to do so. New York, which could not convince New England to accept its 2024 trade-up proposal (aimed at acquiring Drake Maye) or Tennessee to sign off on a Cam Ward-geared pursuit this year, used No. 34 overall and 2025 and ’26 third-rounders to move up for Dart.

Stafford was briefly available, and Rodgers continues to hold off on a Steelers signing. It is not known if the Giants engaged with the Seahawks on Geno Smith, but they did look closely at a Sam Darnold pursuit. PFR’s No. 1 2025 free agent, Darnold was believed to be high on the Giants’ QB list in March. Coming off a bounce-back season with the Vikings, Darnold carried tremendous value due to his 2024 form and age. The 2018 Jets draftee will not turn 28 until June, and after he had signed on to be a bridge QB in Minnesota last year, a 35-touchdown pass season gave him more leverage on the market this year. It would thus be unsurprising if Darnold did not strongly consider a Giants team that had also been closely tied to a QB draft move for months.

Darnold returning to New York, considering how his Jets run went, also loomed as a hurdle in the Giants’ path. The eighth-year veteran is now a Seahawk, having joined the team on a deal (three years, $100.5MM) that reminds of Derek Carr‘s 2022 Raiders extension. Seattle can escape the contract with fairly low dead money by releasing Darnold before a roster bonus is due in mid-February. The Seahawks did discuss their Jalen Milroe plans with Darnold, who enters the season as the team’s clear-cut starter.

Daboll has confirmed Wilson is the Giants’ starter, but with the team investing plenty in Dart in a year that features Daboll and GM Joe Schoen on hot seats, the No. 25 overall pick usurping the ex-Seahawks superstar early in the season should not be ruled out.

The Giants do open their season with a gauntlet, as six games against 2024 playoff teams reside on their schedule’s first eight weeks. A friendlier second half does present a Dart runway, but Daboll and Schoen already moved to their respective hot seats based largely on the Jones situation. It stands to reason they will want to at least see Dart in action early, as pressure mounts, though the team will also need to balance this desire out with a debut range that would make the Ole Miss prospect look promising.

Eagles Rookie Jihaad Campbell Could End Up At Edge

May 17th, 2025 at 9:59pm CST by Ely Allen

When the Eagles made their pick that they traded up a spot for in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, they announced him as “linebacker” Jihaad Campbell, marking the first time the franchise used a first-round pick on the position in 46 years. Per Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer, though, Campbell may find himself playing more on the edge than off-ball in the NFL.

Four years ago, the Eagles watched Dallas take Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, whom they would eventually shift into a pass rusher. Philadelphia had needed to add to their pass rush but hadn’t evaluated Parsons as a pass rusher. If they had, they could have selected him two spots before the Cowboys ended up landing him, and according to McLane, they might have.

Parsons had started his career off-ball for the Nittany Lions, shifting to the edge for a season before moving back to linebacker and getting drafted. New Giants pass rusher Abdul Carter also played almost entirely off-ball for the Nittany Lions two years ago before moving exclusively to the edge in 2024.

Perhaps, seeing two such players in their division, the Eagles wanted to stay ahead of the curve and saw similar abilities in Campbell. When Campbell committed to Alabama out of IMG Academy (FL), he was a five-star edge prospect. Injuries to the Crimson Tide defense necessitated that Campbell fill in at linebacker, and he excelled at the position. After a season playing almost exclusively at linebacker in 2023, Campbell was utilized around the defense last year with a bit more versatility.

Philadelphia wasn’t going to make the same mistake they had with Parsons and made sure to evaluate his potential at both positions. In fact, they may have focused even more on his pass rushing potential, considering Campbell mentioned to the media that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and outside linebackers/defensive end coach Jeremiah Washburn were the coaches most involved in his pre-draft process.

Looking at the roster, there’s room for Campbell at both positions. The Eagles already took an underutilized defender in free agency in Zack Baun and made him a productive off-ball linebacker last year. Baun, a former pass rusher at Wisconsin, also holds the versatility to play at both spots, so Campbell may fit in right alongside him as a second versatile weapon that can move across the front seven. Nakobe Dean is still working his way back from last year’s season-ending injury and may not be ready to open the season, and second-year backer Jeremiah Trotter and rookie Smael Mondon Jr. may not be ready to step up as starters just yet.

If the team does feel comfortable with the makeup of their off-ball group for 2025, then there’s no reason Campbell can’t work in immediately in the pass rush. With the offseason departures of Josh Sweat (free agency) and Brandon Graham (retirement), there are plenty of passing rushing snaps and a starting spot across from Nolan Smith up for grabs. Bryce Huff, Jalyx Hunt, Azeez Ojulari, and Josh Uche should all contribute and compete for the open starting job, but none of them have anything secured at the moment.

The Eagles claim that they have not decided where Campbell will work as a rookie, and though the team has cross-trained players before, they seem to be under the impression that Campbell will need to stick with a single position group to start his career. Campbell is currently recovering from an in-season shoulder injury from last year after getting surgery in March. Additional medical red flags about his other shoulder and potentially his knee kept the Buccaneers and several other teams from taking a chance from him in the first round, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Without any prognosis on his full recovery, the Eagles should have some time before they need to make this call.

Cowboys Unlikely To Make Further RB Additions

May 17th, 2025 at 9:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

Rico Dowdle‘s departure in free agency will leave the Cowboys without their leading rusher from 2024 next season. A number of moves have been made this spring which were aimed at improving the team’s ground game, though.

In March, Dallas made it clear Dowdle would not be retained when Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders were signed in short order. Dowdle wound up taking a one-year, $2.75MM pact with the Panthers on the open market. Rather than matching that commitment, the Cowboys elected to rely on outside additions in the backfield.

Those veteran moves meant the team was not forced turn to the draft for 2025 contributors, but a pair of rookies were acquired nonetheless. Fifth-rounder Jaydon Blue and seventh-rounder Phil Mafah will look to compete for a depth role this year while offering contributions in the backfield in the future. With those four new running backs in the fold, ESPN’s Dan Graziano unsurprisingly reports Dallas is unlikely to be active at the position for the rest of offseason.

Williams enjoyed a strong rookie campaign, notching 1,219 scrimmage yards while operating in a backfield timeshare. The former second-rounder suffered an ACL tear early in his second season, however, and he has not been able to regain his pre-injury efficiency since then. With 158 receptions to his name, Williams could at least offer value in the passing game even if his yards per carry average remains underwhelming on his new team.

Sanders’ fourth and final year with the Eagles saw him set new career highs across the board and collect a Pro Bowl nod. Expectations were high when the 28-year-old inked a long-term Panthers deal, but he was unable to deliver on them in 2023 or ’24. It came as no surprise when he was released earlier this offseason. Just like Williams, Sanders took a one-year pact to join the Cowboys, and his value for next spring will be dictated by his ability to rebound from his poor Carolina stint.

Currently holding nearly $32MM in cap space, Dallas could certainly afford another free agent signing (with Nick Chubb and J.K. Dobbins among the options still on the market) or a trade acquisition at the RB spot. Training camp will see the new additions join returnee Deuce Vaughn in training camp, however, and that group can be expected to remain intact until roster cuts.

Pete Carroll Addresses Seahawks Departure

May 17th, 2025 at 8:17pm CST by Adam La Rose

Shortly after the 2023 season ended, Pete Carroll made it clear he intended to spend at least one more year as the Seahawks’ head coach. That did not prove to be the case, however, with the organization electing to move in a different direction.

Just two days after Carroll publicly stated his goal of coaching a 15th season in Seattle, it was learned that would not be the case. In the end, Mike Macdonald was brought in as head coach with John Schneider remaining in place as general manager. The latter assumed final say on roster moves as a result of the transition, something Carroll recently confirmed as a key factor in his departure.

“It came to me that there was a time that we probably were about to face one of the bigger changes, shifts, in the time of the program, and I had really been dedicated, as John had been dedicated too… to doing this thing in great fashion together,” Carroll said during an appearance on Seattle Sports radio (video link). “We had done that, I thought, and it was really John’s turn, it was his turn to take over.”

As Carroll noted, owner Jody Allen‘s preference was for Schneider to become Seattle’s top decision-maker during the 2024 offseason. The 53-year-old joined the Seahawks in 2010 along with Carroll under the GM title, but this past campaign marked his first in his new capacity. Carroll, meanwhile, said last August he was content to stay out of coaching in the wake of his Seattle tenure coming to an end.

That stance changed over the course of this year’s hiring cycle, though. The 73-year-old became the NFL’s oldest head coaching hire when he joined the Raiders. That decision was influenced in no small part by the presence of minority owner Tom Brady, and that duo along with general manager John Spytek is now in place to oversee a roster transition. The exact power structure in Vegas is unclear, but the Spytek-Carroll tandem is expected to jointly oversee day-to-day operations.

In the case of the Seahawks, Schneider and Macdonald will look to build off last year’s 10-7 campaign and reach the postseason. Most of Schneider’s work for this offseason is done by now, but he has several more on the horizon as the leading figure in the organization.

Bears Planning LB Competition

May 17th, 2025 at 6:50pm CST by Adam La Rose

Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards are still in place with the Bears ahead of the 2025 campaign. They will retain their spots in the starting lineup at the linebacker spot, but it remains to be seen who will join them in that capacity.

Edmunds inked a four-year, $72MM pact in 2023, cashing in considerably after playing out his rookie pact with the Bills. Edwards landed a three-year deal that same offseason, and the former Eagle received a two-year, $20MM extension last month. Expectations will remain high for the duo moving forward, but Jack Sanborn‘s departure has left notable snaps in need of being replaced.

“That third spot, it’s up for grabs,” head coach Ben Johnson said when speaking to the media about the other first-team linebacker gig (via Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune). “[Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen] has got a prototype for what that Sam would look like. We’re more concerned, let’s find our third best linebacker and we’ll figure it out from there.”

No outside moves were made at the position during free agency, but Chicago added a rookie in the form of fourth-rounder Ruban Hyppolite during the draft. The Maryland product will look to carve out at least a special teams role while the likes of Noah Sewell, Amen Ogbongbemiga and Swayze Bozeman aim to land a full-time starting gig. No member of that trio has experience in such a role at the NFL level.

Sanborn, who joined the Cowboys this offseason, never handled a defensive snap share above 39% during his three years in Chicago. Still, he logged nearly 1,000 total snaps over that span and served as a special teams mainstay in 2024. Replacing his production in both regards will see the team’s internal options compete over the course of training camp.

The Bears may end up looking outside the organization at some point, but for now they sit near the bottom of the league with $6.76MM in cap space. A move made via trade or free agency could target a low-cost starting candidate, although a path exists for at least one in-house linebacker to lay claim to a starting gig before it is considered.

AFC Staff Updates: Jaguars, Patriots, Steelers, Jets, Dolphins, Titans, Colts

May 17th, 2025 at 6:01pm CST by Ely Allen

With rookie general manager James Gladstone and rookie head coach Liam Coen taking over in Jacksonville, we’ve seen a mass migration of coaches and front office staff from Los Angeles to Duval this offseason. Gladstone and Coen created several connections during their time with the Rams, and Sean McVay has never been known to keep his coaches from pursuing positions with upwards mobility elsewhere.

The latest staff members we see making the move are former national scout Brian Hill and former director of draft management JW Jordan. Per Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com, Hill is set to become the new director of college scouting in Jacksonville. Hill had been with the Rams since 2013, spending two years as a scouting assistant and ten years as an area scout responsible for the Midwest region. He had just been promoted to national scout in March, but he will pass up the opportunity for an even bigger elevation with the Jaguars.

Jordan has been with the Rams for 13 years, spending the last six in his role as director of draft management and serving as a scouting consultant before that. His new role has not yet been announced, but Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 tells us that it will be an executive role.

Here are some other staff updates from around the AFC:

  • Stratton also gave us two recent updates for the Patriots scouting staff. Just over a week after Tennessee moved on from scouting director A.J. Highsmith, he has found a role in New England as the new director of pro scouting. The move puts Highsmith on the same team as his father, Alonzo Highsmith, who is entering his second season as a senior personnel executive with the Patriots. Stratton also informed us that southeast area scout Josh Hinch will not be returning to the team in 2025.
  • After four years with the Steelers, it appears Mike Sullivan will not be back next season. It’s unclear if something occurred, but ESPN’s Brooke Pryor pointed out that he no longer appears on the team’s website. The 58-year-old spent three years as Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks coach before moving to a senior offensive assistant role last year. Additionally, the Steelers have hired Luke Smith to serve as a quality control coach for the team in 2025. The nephew of Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith, Luke has spent the past eight years as the wide receivers coach at nearby Duquesne, per Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. This will be Smith’s first position in the NFL.
  • Stratton gave us another front office update recently, pointing out a change to the LinkedIn profile of Jets assistant director of pro personnel Kevin Murphy. Murphy seems to have indicated on the account that his time with New York has come to an end. The profile currently does not indicate any next steps for the pro personnel specialist who spent time with the Texans, Bills, and Jets over the last 19 years.
  • Jordan Happle has been hired as a new player personnel scout for the Dolphins. According to Stratton, the former collegiate safety who played at both Boise State and Oregon was recently added to Miami’s website in the new position.
  • Stratton also tells us that the Titans are hiring former Pitt director of college scouting Alex Kline to their scouting department this season. Kline began his football career as a wide receiver at John Caroll University before becoming a grad assistant and, eventually, a coach and coordinator at Saint Vincent College. He worked for a year at Pitt as an offensive quality control coach before leaving for a recruiting role at Akron. He returned to Pitt as the wide receivers coach before leaving once again for the director of player personnel job at Memphis. He returned once more to Pitt in 2022 in his most recent role before making the trip back to Tennessee. It stands to be seen whether or not he’ll attempt to continue his back-and-forth career movement between coaching and personnel.
  • Lastly, Seth Walder of ESPN informs us that Ashleigh Prugh is joining the Colts as a football analytics fellow. This will be Prugh’s first position in the NFL following an internship with SumerSports.

Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd Is “Full Go”

May 17th, 2025 at 4:23pm CST by Ely Allen

After an extremely disappointing rookie season that saw him miss all but 10 offensive snaps, Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd is ready to make a comeback for his sophomore campaign. According to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, running backs coach Ben Sirmans told the media that “everything’s full go for (Lloyd)” at this point.

With last year’s offseason addition of veteran free agent running back Josh Jacobs, not much was going to be expected of Lloyd in the Packers offense, anyway. Jacobs rebounded from a down 2023 season with 1,329 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in his first season in Green Bay. That didn’t mean there weren’t touches for other backs, though, as Emanuel Wilson was able to contribute 502 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, as well.

As a third-round pick out of USC, it was expected that Lloyd could have been that impactful RB2 for the Packers before injury and illness stole his season. He had experienced a similar disappointment as a five-star freshman at South Carolina, missing his first year due to a torn ACL. He was slowly worked back into the offense as a redshirt freshman and didn’t become a starter until 2022. Though he scored 11 touchdowns that year, he only racked up 573 rushing yards. He then transferred to joins the Trojans and, with only five more carries, was able to increase his rushing total to 820 yards with another nine touchdowns.

In the running backs room in Green Bay, neither Lloyd nor Wilson offer much physically different from Jacobs. All three rushers are around 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10 and 220 pounds. There isn’t really a specialized scatback or short-yardage option or receiving back in the three. If all backs are fully healthy, though, Lloyd should hold the advantage to land a change-of-pace role over Wilson.

If Lloyd can establish himself as an impact performer in limited time, the Packers may feel comfortable moving on from Jacobs as they get into the later, more expensive, and cap-eating years of the veteran’s current contract. At this point, though, Jacobs has proven to be plenty worth his deal, and Lloyd has plenty to prove in his first healthy year in the NFL.

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