What was once a beautiful marriage quickly turned into an ugly divorce between Josh Jacobs and the Las Vegas Raiders. Jacobs, a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, was seen as a franchise-altering running back in the eyes of Mark Davis and most of his coaches. The Alabama alum’s film supported that sentiment, too.
However, as regimes continued changing in Sin City, Jacobs ran into a few select men who thought otherwise. And soon enough, the All-Pro running back found himself out of favor in Las Vegas despite his own commitment to the team.
“I was invested in there,” Jacobs said in response to a question about his time with the Raiders on Bussin’ With The Boys.
“This is where I’m going to be. I have a great relationship with Mark Davis. I love Mark Davis, it has nothing to do with Mark Davis,” Jacobs made sure to say when addressing how one certain regime ‘disrespected’ him.
“What made it worse.. And it really hurt my heart.. Because I tried to stay. I did everything in my power to stay. My agent was even getting mad at me because he’s like, ‘at what point are you going to be like f**** these dudes?’ Because I’m like, look, I got six teams talking to me about more money than you. Can you match that?
“They say no. I’m like, okay, that’s fine. Can we meet in the middle? Can we get the median of that? They say no. I’m like, Okay. They were offering me $10 [million] a year, so I’m like can I get some incentives? Maybe I’ll hit them, maybe I won’t. They said no. Once they said that, I said we ain’t got nothing to talk about.”
And then, the then-Las Vegas Raiders regime took it too far with Josh Jacobs
At the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign a separate extension, Jacobs was sitting in his car with his then-teammate Maxx Crosby. He was hoping to work out a last-second deal and get back to work with the Raiders under an ironed out extension. Las Vegas’ front office had other ideas.
“Dude comes up to my car.. Me and Maxx are in the car, Maxx is in the car with me.. and he’s talking to us, but while he’s on his phone, he’s moving his phone around, he’s on the phone with a reporter,” Jacobs continued.
“And it has nothing to do with the Raiders organization. It’s more so the people that they had in there at the time.”
To be clear, this isn’t about Tom Telesco and Antonio Pierce. Jacobs’ story is one that happened under the regime of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. That’s what the conversation was about, and a two-year old tweet from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero expanding on the car incident proves that true.
In any case, Jacobs is now enjoying a four-year, $48 million deal as a member of the Green Bay Packers. The 27-year-old posted 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns last season, getting ready to have a bigger year with the presence of first-round draft selection Matthew Golden helping keep opposing defenses honest.
And for the Raiders, the now-regime of Pete Carroll and John Spytek is heading in the right direction as well. Sin City may be without Jacobs moving forward, but the future is certainly bright with Boise State superstar Ashton Jeanty in the backfield.
*Top Photo: Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
Before you go
Check out our YouTube, Ramble Digital Media, for film breakdowns and scouting reports of Raiders players, including rookies both drafted and undrafted. Our latest film breakdown and scouting report of Tommy Mellott can be found here.
Don’t forget to subscribe for more–it’s on the way!
Is The Las Vegas Raiders’ Biggest Move Of 2025 FA Right Around The Corner?