Josh Jacobs Charges Push Green Bay Toward A Trade
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Josh Jacobs now has formal charges and a cloudy Week 1. Brown County filed misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Both are Class A counts. Each can bring nine months and a $10,000 fine.
The paper dropped Thursday, more than three months after his May arrest. Police first booked him on five counts, including a felony. Prosecutors dropped the felony. They kept two misdemeanors. His first court date is Nov. 17. The Green Bay Packers open Sept. 13 against Minnesota.
The NFL can still act first. The league can suspend him or place him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. That list is paid leave while the case sits. Green Bay already mapped a suspension path in camp.
Josh Jacobs Leaves Green Bay Without a True RB1 Plan
Behind Jacobs sit MarShawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks, and Pierre Strong Jr. Strong is a cut candidate. Brooks has never held a lead job. Lloyd has played one game in two years. That is not a starter room.
James Conner is the cheap fix on the board. He is a two-time Pro Bowler. He has one year left. He would cost about $2.5 million. He ran for 1,000 yards in 2023 and 2024. He played three games last year after a foot injury. He turns 31 this season.
Arizona may not need him. Rookie Jeremiyah Love went third overall. Love had an ankle sprain in camp. If Love is healthy, Conner starts the year as RB3. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell said Conner will lead another team in rushing. Mike Clay guessed the Packers. Clay then named the reason.
“It’s obviously the Josh Jacobs legal stuff going on there.”
Barnwell was thinking Jacksonville. The Packers still fit the math. A Day 3 pick could get it done if the Cardinals decided to shop him.
Josh Jacobs and the League Clock Hit the Same Week
Jacobs practiced through camp after one night in jail. Gutekunst said the club prepared for a ban. The Schefter update still hangs over roster cuts. Sunday is the 53-man deadline. The legal file will not close by then.
The case involves alleged violence against a woman. The filed counts do not say domestic violence. The league has treated similar files as conduct cases. Terrion Arnold sits on the exempt list for felonies. Jacobs faces misdemeanors. The policy still gives the commissioner room.
Conner is not a long-term answer. He is a one-year hedge. Lloyd needs health. Jacobs needs a letter from the league that never comes, or a short one. Green Bay can keep Strong and wait. That wait has a date. Week 1 is 16 days out.
