Monday marks the first day in which all teams are able to begin phase one of their offseason programs, and attention is of course being paid to notable absences. One player choosing to skip his team’s voluntary workouts is Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, as noted (on Twitter) by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. 
The news comes as little surprise, considering Jacobs has yet to sign his franchise tag. Vegas’ decision to use the one-year tender kept Jacobs off the market, thus preventing him from trying to parlay his career-year into a long-term payday. The former first-rounder joined Saquon Barkley and Tony Pollard as backs receiving the franchise tag this offseason; only the latter has signed his so far.
Jacobs, 25, seemed to be on his way out of Vegas heading into the 2022 season given the team’s decision to decline his firth-year option. His performance this past year, though – including 12 touchdowns and a league-leading 2,053 scrimmage yards – earned him Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors. That made his retention (at least in the short-term) a priority for the Raiders, who have to date joined most of the rest of the league in not making a lucrative investment at the position on a second contract.
In fact, serious extension talks have yet to take place between the Raiders and Jacobs. The latter is set to earn $10.1MM on the tag if no long-term agreement can be reached this offseason. With July 17 representing the deadline for talks on that front, though, plenty of time still remains for a breakthrough. Jacobs’ market could be influenced by Barkley’s, though the Giants appear very content to let their star play out the 2023 season without any long-term security. The Raiders taking a similar approach with Jacobs would cloud his financial prospects.
As expected, the free agent market led to a number of modest deals at the running back position this offseason. Only Miles Sanders and David Montgomery landed new contracts averaging $6MM or more per season, a further illustration of the devaluation of the position. How Jacobs fits into the changing RB landscape could be worth monitoring next offseason, if no new deal is agreed upon by that time. In the short-term, progress (or a lack thereof) made in contract talks as he aims to use his limited leverage in the spring will be a key storyline for the team.
If you’re a RB, it’s unlikely you’ll get a huge deal. Todd Gurley, Zeke, McCaffrey, Gordon, Shaun Alexander… a bunch of bad RB deals and the plug-and-play nature of the position. Shoot for getting the most guaranteed you can get – if you can get 30M guaranteed, that’s 3 years of the tag (not including escalators). You get injured next year, RB is the easiest position to replace.
Anyone have any idea what the Raiders could get for him in a trade?
Depending on what the return was, and depending on how the draft goes, trading Jacobs to go after someone like Bijan Robinson might make sense.