GREEN BAY – If he maintains his current rate of 24 attempts per game, Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs will flirt with former Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson’s NFL record of 416 attempts in a season.
It seems unlikely that Jacobs can keep up that pace, but the way things are going in the running back room, he’s definitely going to have to prepare for more action than any Packers running back has seen in a long time.
Two of the three backs who would have made the roster – AJ Dillon (neck) and MarShawn Lloyd (ankle) – are on the injured list. Dillon is out for the year and Lloyd, who was injured on Sunday, will miss at least four games.
So behind Jacobs are second-year backs Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks, the latter of whom was elevated from the practice squad to the 53-man roster after Lloyd was placed on the injured list on Tuesday. The pair have combined for 101 offensive snaps and 42 runs.
“It’s inevitable that there’s going to be some attrition at that position and you have to make sure you’re developing people,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “I mean, it’s a long season. You’ve heard me say it a million times, it’s a marathon, so you have to be aware of that, especially in the beginning.”
“And when it comes down to it, you have to do what you have to do.”
The last time a Packers running back had more than 250 carries in a season was 2013, when Eddie Lacy had 284 total carries. The most runs by a running back during the LaFleur era was 236 carries by Aaron Jones in 2019.
Jacobs, who set a career-high with 340 carries (20 per game) in 2022 when he led the NFL in rushing with 1,653 yards, played 47 snaps and ran the ball 32 times in the Packers’ 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. He now has 48 carries for 235 yards, putting him on track for 408 carries for 1,998 yards this season.
Josh Jacobs may not see a drastic reduction in his use until his backups prove themselves
It’s unlikely Jacobs will be used that often, but the reality is that Wilson and Brooks aren’t proven complementary players like Dillon and Jamaal Williams were with Jones. Wilson has led the Packers in rushing the past two preseasons, but he’s still trying to prove he’s a reliable blocker and receiver.
“He’s getting better every week,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said. “I trust him, whether it’s pass defense, understanding what he’s doing or playing a role as a more aggressive runner. I think it’s taken him some time to gain that confidence and, more importantly, we’ve gained that confidence in him.”
As much as that confidence has grown, Lloyd, the third-round pick out of USC, was about to take on a more prominent role than Wilson when his right ankle was caught under him on a fourth-quarter run. Lloyd has exceptional speed and good hands for a 220-pound back and would have gone further had he not suffered hip and hamstring injuries during practice.
Wilson is fast and got the running game going against Philadelphia in the opener after Jacobs started with six 5-yard runs. He’s more of a straight-line, hole-oriented runner than Jacobs, who likes to press the hole and then run behind blocks and around defenders.
Jacobs missed four games last year with a hamstring injury and has battled calf, toe and ankle injuries. In his five years with the Las Vegas Raiders, he missed a total of 10 games. He never had fewer than 200 rushing runs and only once – in his rookie season – did he play fewer than 600 snaps.
Even though the Packers don’t expect him to play another 32 games, they never rule it out.
“It’s a nice luxury, especially if they can handle it,” Sirmans said. “And he’s proven he’s that kind of guy. I mean, even in training camp, it’s a luxury when you give a player a certain amount of reps and you’re used to taking a player out and then asking for more.”
Sirmans held Jacobs out during training camp when he noticed he wasn’t fully protecting the ball because he wasn’t considered a fumbler. But now that Jacobs has fumbled every game – including at the goal line against the Colts, which cost the Packers a touchdown – he’s tightening the screws on ball security.
Sirmans described Jacobs’ blunder as “the cheetah effect, because when a cheetah is running at full speed and making all kinds of turns, it’s trying to balance itself with its tail. So when you’re running like that and obviously making all those turns, your arm and everything else is often moving away from your body because you’re trying to balance yourself.”
The remedy, Sirmans said, is drills to ensure he grips the ball tightly, keeps his wrist up and holds the ball close to his body.
Chris Brooks has a running style that makes him outrun everyone
As for Brooks, who was signed to the practice squad after negotiating compensation with Miami for his injury (concussion) at the end of training camp, Sirmans said he watched videos of him to find out what kind of runner he was.
Like Jacobs and Wilson, he’s a big running back (6’2″, 230 pounds), but he doesn’t have the same speed, so he tries to run people over. There are plenty of examples of him breaking tackles in his time with the Dolphins, but he also missed six games with an ankle injury and suffered a concussion in the middle of training camp, so his resilience is questionable.
Brooks had 17 carries for 103 yards in the preseason, including a 59-yard run, and 22 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns in the 2023 preseason. He had a 52-yard run in last year’s regular season and finished the season with 106 yards on 19 carries.
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“He’s a hole-hitting guy,” Sirmans said. “He’s been trained in this offense. There’s a lot of things we do that he’s already familiar with. His ability to run outside the zone is all we teach him when it comes to how to hit the hole, one cut and he’s off.”
Both Sirmans and LaFleur said Brooks learned the playbook quickly, which means he will get some game practice on Sunday in Tennessee.
That is, if Jacobs ever leaves the field.
Here is your Green Bay Packers schedule for 2024, September 15-21
Here is your 2024 Green Bay Packers schedule. The Packers will play two Thursday night games, including Thanksgiving, and one game on Sunday and Monday nights, finishing with home games against the Bears.
