A once-promising season has ended in disappointment for the Oakland Raiders. After coming out of the gate strong with a 6-4 start, the team collapsed down the stretch, losing five of its final six games and finishing below .500 for the seventh time in eight seasons. Now, the team is on the move to Las Vegas, and the future of the franchise is largely unsettled. But even in a topsy-turvy year filled with dashed hopes and unmet expectations, there was one constant bright spot and that was the play of rookie running back Josh Jacobs.
In Spite of Injuries, Josh Jacobs Is Already Elite
In an era where fewer and fewer franchises are comfortable taking running backs in the first round, the Raiders felt strongly enough about Jacobs to do just that, selecting the former Alabama standout with the 24th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. When the dust settled, Jacobs stood as the only tailback to have his name called in the opening stanza and as such, he entered training camp with high expectations. In the eyes of many, he was seen as a legitimate feature back prospect with three-down potential, in spite of his limited college resume.
While he had shared the workload with Damien Harris at Bama, Jacobs was seen as the superior prospect, a natural runner with plus receiving ability, as evidenced by his 20 receptions and cool 12.4 yards per catch average. The potential was there, but would the production follow?
A Season for the Ages
The answer to that question was a resounding “yes”. Jacobs stood out immediately during camp and entered Week 1 atop the depth chart. In the first Monday night game of the season, the rookie jumped out the gates with 113 yards from scrimmage on 24 total touches, scored two rushing touchdowns, and never looked back.
Just how impressive was Jacobs as the season wore on? For starters, he broke Marcus Allen‘s Raider rookie rushing record (say that three times fast) of 708 yards in only his eighth NFL contest. Yes, we’re talking about the same Marcus Allen, whose 12,243 career rushing yards rank 14th in NFL history.
Jacobs then went on to become the first Raiders rookie tailback to rush for 1,000 yards and perhaps most impressively, he accomplished that feat in the first quarter of only his 12th professional contest. The rookie also averaged a sterling 4.8 yards a carry and his average of 88.5 rushing yards per game was third-best in the entire league.
Ultimately, a shoulder injury and a skin infection that required surgery ended his rookie season prematurely. But he still finished with 1,150 rushing yards (eighth-best in the NFL), seven rushing touchdowns, and 166 receiving yards. That is excellent production, and it becomes even more impressive when you consider that it came from a rookie who missed three games and wasn’t fully healthy for at least one more.
Another stat that needs to be mentioned is that, per Pro Football Focus, Jacobs forced 69 missed tackles in 2019. That is the highest number by a rookie in NFL history and he achieved it in only 13 games. Unreal.
Josh Jacobs finishes the season with 69 forced missed tackles. Most ever by a rookie.
— PFF (@PFF) December 28, 2019
Turn Up the Volume
Moving forward, the only area of Jacobs’ game that needs to be improved is his receiving production, and that issue isn’t the rookie’s fault in the slightest. Despite flashing natural pass-catching ability in college and in camp, Jacobs was constantly taken off the field on third downs, in the two-minute offense, and in negative game scripts and other obvious passing situations. It led to Jacobs seeing only 27 targets on the season, well behind his backups Jalen Richard (43) and DeAndre Washington (40) and playing less than 60 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in ten of his 13 appearances.
That needs to change in 2019. Jacobs is a complete player who was selected in round one in no small part due to his versatile skill set. There’s no reason why he should be standing on the sidelines so much while being the third-most targeted tailback on his own team.
I’d expect the Raiders coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments to Jacobs’ usage this off-season and with Washington set to hit free agency, his potential departure could leave 40 unaccounted for running back targets. I’d expect a significant uptake in Jacobs’ receiving volume in his sophomore year.
What’s to Come
If you’re a regular reader, you’ve likely noticed we’ve been discussing some of the season’s best rookies a lot in this column, with particular focus on players like Kyler Murray, Miles Sanders, and A.J. Brown in recent weeks. While all of these young men have a legitimate shot at offensive rookie of the year honors, Jacobs would have likely been the runaway winner had it not been for his injury woes. In fact, even having missed three games, he still has a strong case to take home the award.
In one abbreviated season, he proved to be one of the best pure runners in football and with a potentially larger do-it-all role on the horizon, there isn’t much the 21-year-old can’t accomplish in the NFL. While Jacobs was ultimately snubbed from his first Pro Bowl selection in 2019, there’s little doubt that he produced a Pro Bowl-caliber season and likely has many more of them in his future.
It’s a unique time in Raiders’ history. With the franchise set to relocate to Las Vegas this off-season and with another frustrating season in the books, there are a lot of questions about what’s next for the struggling organization. In spite of all that, fans should take comfort in the fact that their team has found a premier running back to build an offense around.
Josh Jacobs’ incredible NFL career is just beginning, and no matter how much uncertainty surrounds this team, there’s very little doubt about that fact.
