The Packers Will Need To Buck Historic Trends To Win With Josh Jacobs’ Contract

The Green Bay Packers made a splash at the beginning of free agency, not only parting with Aaron Jones but replacing him with a younger, more expensive running back in Josh Jacobs. As excited as some Packers fans may be at the prospect of having the 2022 NFL rushing yards leader in the backfield, there’s no correlation in recent league history between highly paid running backs and Super Bowl success.

On paper, Jacobs’s four-year, $48 million contract with Green Bay is lavish. However, the $14.8 million obligation only actually applies to the Packers for one season. Despite having the most total cash hit of any running back to date in 2024, his cap hit for the next season is actually only $5.3 million. In any case,

Green Bay has much exceeded any previous Super Bowl victor in the amount of salary cap it has allotted to an RB1.

Whether there is correlation or causality is the key question here. Are teams missing out on the Super Bowl because they give running backs too much of their resources, potentially losing skill at other positions? Or can teams with lesser-paid running backs still win the Super Bowl?

It’s challenging to

However, if we look at the losing team’s budget from previous Super Bowls, we can see that more money was allocated to running backs. Let’s start with Christian McCaffrey’s $12 million dead cap charge for the San Francisco 49ers in the previous year. In 2021, Todd Gurley earned a $21 million signing bonus, which the Los Angeles Rams had to deal with

, while Joe Mixon made $5 million for the Cincinnati Bengals. With Jonathan Stewart earning $4.25 million during the Carolina Panthers’ 2015 NFC championship season, it is conceivable to at least qualify for the Super Bowl without a cheap running back.

Running backs are having a difficult time landing big-money contracts; only five are expected to make over $10 million, while 21 quarterbacks and 29 wide receivers will earn more than that amount. The best 32 running backs in the league currently earn an average salary of almost $5.7 million. More than ten years have passed since the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl victor received a salary higher than that of other players in the league.

Fans of the Packers shouldn’t be overjoyed that Jacobs now has the largest overall monetary hit scheduled for the 2017 season based solely on this statistic.

However, there are still methods to succeed, much like the Seahawks in 2013, and one of those ways is by making cost savings at other positions. There is a saying in football that a rookie quarterback is the most valuable player.

Green Bay, however, won’t have that either because Jordan Love is expected to profit. The front staff in Green Bay, along with Russ Ball, will perform magic to match Love’s deal with the team’s present direction.

However, what is currently driving their success is the amazing draft classes that Brian Gutekunst assembled throughout the previous two seasons.

Can the Packers start all four wide receivers, their two best tight ends, important linebackers like Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan, and Rasheed Walker, and obtain breakout defensive players on rookie contracts in Quay Walker

, Devonte Wyatt, Carrington Valentine, Karl Brooks, and Lukas Van Ness? That is one method of absorbing a premium contract at a position that is becoming less and less premium.

With the fifth-highest odds in the conference to win the entire thing, Green Bay still has the greatest chance of any NFC team to get to the Super Bowl. Given that Jacobs’ contract is essentially a large one-year salary with deferred options, the Packers could be able to absorb such a contract during this season. Not all of history is on Green

NEWSONTIME.CO.UK