Josh Jacobs’ career season for Raiders could culminate in NFL rushing title

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Nov. 25, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Out of everyone on the Raiders’ roster, Josh Jacobs might talk the most on gameday.

The veteran running back is constantly trying to motivate his teammates, pointing things out and “bringing the energy.” In the middle of Sunday’s game against the Broncos, Jacobs’ words became pointed when he felt the divisional rivals were keying in on him defensively.

“Man, they’ve got an eight-man box,” Jacobs said he told his teammates. “They’re bringing the safety down a lot of plays. Y’all guys got to make a play. Somebody’s got to step up.”

Multiple Raiders stepped up in the overtime victory, but it still didn’t prevent Jacobs from notching his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. Jacobs ran for 109 yards on 24 carries in addition to catching four passes for 51 yards.

No one thought Jacobs would be the offensive weapon opposing defenses were selling out to stop coming into the season given coach Josh McDaniels’ previous preference for a running back by committee approach. The franchise also declined to exercise Jacobs’ fifth-year option to put further doubt on its commitment to him.

But Jacobs has run so hard that the Raiders have no choice but to let him lead them, just as opponents have no choice but to sell out and try to slow him.

“One of the most impressive things about him is he never asks to come out of the game,” McDaniels said. “I’ve coached for a while and that’s a tough position to play and never come out because you’re getting hit a lot and you get banged around and guys are falling on you and all the rest of it…Honestly, it took me a few weeks to get used to that because you’re thinking you’re going to be subbing backs pretty regularly.”

The every-down workload has put Jacobs in exclusive company statistically. While on pace for the second most single-season rushing yards in Raider history — behind mentor Marcus Allen’s 1985 MVP season — he’s also sitting third in the NFL with 930 rushing yards through 10 games.

That’s only 80 yards behind leader and perennial All Pro Derrick Henry from the Tennessee Titans for the NFL lead. Jacobs is also second in the NFL in scrimmage yards, only 28 yards behind Henry with 1,181 yards combined rushing and passing.

And he’s doing it all at a career-high efficiency clip of 5.1 yards per carry.

“A lot of the stats and stuff we’ve been having this year, I don’t even know until y’all tell me or one of the guys tell me so it’s not something I really think about,” Jacobs said. “Obviously it’s going to be big for the end of the year and how things go but I don’t really think about it too much.”

If Jacobs maintains his success in the final seven games of the season, starting in Sunday’s Week 12 game at the Seattle Seahawks, he’s got a real shot at the NFL’s 2022-2023 season rushing title. Given his perception coming into the season, he would be among the unlikeliest winners ever.

Jacobs came into the season at 60-to-1 odds in local sports books to lead the NFL in rushing yards, but is now 4-to-1 at Caesars/William Hill. There’s no question he’ll get the opportunities as long as he stays healthy with having now made McDaniels a believer in the potential of deploying an every-down back.

“I’m having a hard time going away from the guy with the hot hand,” McDaniels said. “Running backs, if you’ve got a guy that’s pretty special, you let him play and let him do his thing.”

Jacobs had a down year a season ago, battling injuries and finishing with a career-low 872 rushing yards. In the two previous seasons, he finished eighth in the league in rushing with 1,150 yards as a rookie in 2019 and 1,065 as a first-time Pro Bowler in 2020.

Those are high finishes, but not typically a springboard to the top of the league the next year. Rushing leaders have almost always been big favorites coming into the season going back decades. Henry, for instance, has won three of the last four years.

He’s certainly gunning for another rushing title, but also one of Jacobs’ biggest supporters. The two share a bond having played at the University of Alabama. Henry declared for the NFL Draft a season before Jacobs arrived on campus, but they worked out together before the latter’s draft and became friends.

“He hits me after every game dang near so we keep in contact with each other,” Jacobs said of Henry. “I’m proud for him and the success he’s had.”

Jacobs said he never really looked up to Henry because of how different their running styles are on the surface. Henry is five inches taller and 30 pounds heavier, but they’ve both been among the best running backs in the NFL after contact for years.

More notably, they’re two of a dying breed of running backs who get the vast majority of their team’s carries. Henry was always expected to be in that position this season, but it’s more of a surprise that Jacobs is right next to him battling for one of the NFL’s most prestigious statistical honors.

“For me personally, it’s always just been if they let me do it or not,” Jacobs said. “It was just coming to them times when a play would happen and I’d be like, ‘Man, I have a chance to affect the game and I want to be in in those situations.’ Obviously I’ll be needing a break here or there. I’ll be like, ‘Come on now,’ but (it’s nice) to be able have the opportunity to put everything on film and showcase everything you can do.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or