Packers Never Considered Moving Josh Jacobs, League Sources Say

Despite media speculation to the contrary, the Green Bay Packers never considered trading or releasing star running back Josh Jacobs, according to league sources, and in fact prioritized building their offseason around the influential player.

Reports swirled in recent weeks about the team potentially being able to move on from Jacobs, 28, given the accumulation of hits and Green Bay’s challenging salary-cap situation.

However, within the organization that was considered noise; while several rival executives were eager to get an opportunity to land Jacobs that’s not going to be the case. 

General manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Mike LaFleur made it clear to Jacobs in exit interviews how much valued him playing through extreme pain at times this season, and view the 2024 free-agent signing as a lynchpin player.

“He’s the leader of that offense, and everybody knows it,” said one team source. “Josh wasn’t going anywhere.”

Playing Through Pain

Jacobs willed himself through several games last season, dealing with a Grade 2 calf strain early in the season, grinding through that injury and performing like one of the top every-down backs in the NFL in the first half of the season. 

The running back also dealt with a serious deep knee and kneecap bruise that rendered him unable to bend his leg through some weeks of practice, yet he still ended up playing in games despite Green Bay’s medical team often deeming that to be unlikely. Jacobs remained a touchdown-machine for much of the season. 

The Packers kept Jacobs on a “pitch count” in the second half of the season, limited his in-game reps to attempt to get him healthy for the playoffs, and in their internal review of why the team fell apart late in the season, significant attention was paid to occurrences where Jacobs did not get the ball enough in critical junctures, team sources said. 

It’s unlikely LaFleur, the offensive play caller, allows that to happen again in 2026, with the team prizing better game-day coordination between the offensive coaches to ensure there isn’t too much rotation.

Ultimately, much of the conjecture about Jacobs’s standing within the organization can be chalked up to wishful thinking from other NFL front offices that would love to have had the opportunity to land him.