Las Vegas Raiders: No plans to trade RB Josh Jacobs

Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs had a peculiar amount of touches during Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Jacobs had five carries and two receptions, all coming on the Raiders’ opening two drives, in a game that many starters on both teams didn’t even suit up for. The amount of touches Jacobs got led to speculation that Las Vegas could be looking to move on from him. 

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Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said that wasn’t the case. 

“We have a lot of confidence in J.J.,” McDaniels said when asked by reporters if the Raiders were planning to move on from Jacobs. “And, you know, he did well with his opportunities, which we hoped he would. But no, we have no desire to do that at all.”

Jacobs, who the Raiders selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, didn’t have the fifth-year option picked up by the Raiders over the offseason, making him a free agent following the upcoming season. McDaniels and new general manager Dave Ziegler didn’t draft Jacobs and made the decision to not pick up the option. 

But while some signs point to Jacobs being on the outs in Las Vegas, McDaniels reiterated that getting Jacobs a lot of touches last Thursday was part of the plan for the upcoming season. Four of the Raiders’ five starting offensive linemen played in Thursday’s game for a reason, according to McDaniels.

“I really do believe that the [running] backs … don’t really get to simulate what’s going to happen during the course of the regular season,” McDaniels said. “And so, giving them an opportunity to actually get tackled, take care of the football and get acclimated to a new system, quite honestly, I think is the goal. Each man’s different.”

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Jacobs’ rushing yard total has dropped in each of his three seasons in the league. He went from rushing for 1,150 yards (4.8 yards per carry) as a rookie in 2019 to 872 yards (4.0 yards per carry) in 2021. However, Jacobs had a career-high 54 receptions for 348 yards in 2021. 

Las Vegas added a few running backs over the offseason. It signed veterans Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah before drafting Georgia running back Zamir White in the fourth round of the draft.