When the Las Vegas Raiders reported for training camp this week, there was one very noticeable absence: Josh Jacobs.
The Raiders star running back, who led the NFL in rushing last season, decided to not to show up after he was unable to reach a long-term deal with the team prior to the franchise tag deadline on July 17. Although it's not clear just how much money Jacobs was looking for in a new deal, it seems that he turned down an offer from the Raiders that would have likely made him one of the five highest-paid running backs in the NFL.
During a recent interview on "The Rich Eisen Show," Mike Garafolo of NFL Media said the Raiders offered Jacobs a deal worth about $12 million per year.
"My understanding is that Josh Jacobs got an offer from the Raiders around $12 million per year," Garafolo said.
If Jacobs did get an offer worth that much, it would have made him the fifth-highest paid running back in the NFL based on average annual salary, tied with Aaron Jones.
Highest-paid running backs based on average annual salary:
1. Christian McCaffrey, 49ers: $16.02 million per year
2. Alvin Kamara, Saints: $15 million
3. Derrick Henry, Titans: $12.5 million
4. Nick Chubb, Browns: $12.2 million
5. Aaron Jones, Packers: $12 million
Of course, even if Jacobs did get an offer for $12 million per year, that doesn't quite tell the full story. We don't know what kind of guarantees came with the offer and that likely played a big reason why Jacobs ended up turning the Raiders down.
According to The Athletic, the Raiders offer didn't even get up to $22.2 million in guarantees. If that's the case, it would have made sense for Jacobs to say no since he could get that much by just playing the next two seasons under the franchise tag. The 2023 tag will pay him $10.091 million, and if he gets tagged again in 2024, the number would be $12.109 million for a total of $22.2 million. If the Raiders didn't offer that much in guarantees, then saying no was probably easy for Jacobs.
As far as what's next, one thing seems to be sure: Jacobs does NOT sound like he plans on playing the 2023 season on the franchise tag number of $10.091 million.
One thing that could happen here is that Jacobs could ask the Raiders to sweeten the pot like the Giants did for Saquon Barkley, who could make as much as $11 million this year if he hits every incentive in his reworked contract. One interesting nugget about Barkley is that he would have jumped at the offer Jacobs got from the Raiders, if the Giants had offered the same thing, according to Garafolo.
"Jacobs and Barkley were in communication that final day when the deadline arrived," Garafolo said. "My understanding is that if the same deal that the Raiders had offered Jacobs, Barkley would have taken it, but the Giants wouldn't go there."
At this point, Jacobs definitely seems disgruntled about how things are playing out. He even took to Twitter and dared the Raiders to replace him.
Let’s see them do it then
— Josh Jacobs (@iAM_JoshJacobs) July 27, 2023
If you're wondering what the future holds for Jacobs and Raiders, you can read our take on the situation here.
Jacobs missing the early portion of training camp isn't a huge deal, but the Raiders will likely start sweating if their star running back still hasn't signed his franchise tag by the time September rolls around.
