Paul GutierrezESPN staff writer3 minutes of reading
Henderson, Nev. — Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro Josh Jacobs, who has yet to sign his $10.091 million franchise tag and hasn’t participated in any offseason programs or training camp, returned to social media Saturday. Team.
“I came,” Published by Jacobs.
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Jacobs is in Las Vegas and has agreed to a one-year rework deal that could be worth up to $12 million with a one-game roster bonus.
The Raiders announced Saturday that they had signed Jacobs without disclosing terms. Raiders owner Marc Davis was happy to have Jacobs back and reiterated his feelings for the running back.
“I love him. I love Josh,” Davis told ESPN. “He’s phenomenal. He was the heart of our team, in my mind. He came to play every day. Tough, tough, tough guy. Really proud of him. He’s a rider. If 22 Josh Jacobs is on the roster, with that mentality, it’s amazing.”
Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler met with Jacobs and his agent this week at a restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip to lay some groundwork for a deal, sources told Schefter. The two sides discussed the structure of the agreement reached on Saturday.
Sources said Jacobs is expected to return to the team on Sunday. He wasn’t with the Raiders in Dallas for Saturday night’s exhibition finale against the Cowboys.
Jacobs, the team’s first-round pick in 2019, did not pick up his fifth-year option last season when Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels took over. Jacobs responded with a career year.
In rushing for 1,653 yards, Jacobs became the first Raiders player to lead the NFL in rushing since Marcus Allen in 1985. Jacobs led the league in touches (393) and from scrimmage (2,053) and tied a career high for the NFL’s longest run this season, his 86-yard walk at the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 27, with 12 rushing. Touches. His 400 receiving yards on 53 catches was a career high.
With Jacobs out, sophomore Jameer White has handled the load as the starter, rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in two postseason games. White had 70 rushing yards on 17 carries as a rookie last season.
“Josh can either run you over or outrun you,” Raiders offensive lineman Jermaine Elmunor said. “Jameer is going to run first and outrun you, and he doesn’t care. It’s great to play for guys like that because if you open a hole and he goes to the defense, nine times out of 10, he’s going to outrun him and score.”
“Like I said, Josh — there’s nobody like him — but we’re lucky to have a guy like Zeus. [White].”
Jacobs was not fined because he did not sign the license tag by the July 17 deadline and was not under contract.
McDaniels said it was Jacobs’ right to stay away, and he respected that and said the team would welcome him back. McDaniels, whose offenses have traditionally used a run-by-committee approach, adapted to Jacobs’ productivity last season and didn’t sense a change in philosophy.
“You go with what’s the best thing for the team to do,” McDaniels said early in training camp. “Of course, it was [Jacobs] Last year. I don’t expect this year to be any different.”
The New York Giants’ Saquon Barkley also initially declined to sign his franchise tag and agreed to a one-year deal that fixed his tag at the end of July.
Hall of Famer Allen, Jacobs’ mentor, lamented that the money market was devaluing the money market.
“I’m going to say it — it’s almost like a conspiracy,” Allen said at a Raiders alumni reunion earlier this month. “Instead of looking at each one individually, they decided that their productivity would be short-term. They decided, as a group, that they weren’t going to pay them. So I can understand why. [running backs are] Thinking and what they feel. So I hope things get resolved because for me, [Jacobs is] Like the heart and soul of the team.”
