Josh Jacobs clearly isn’t pleased with the Las Vegas Raiders’ decision to franchise tag him earlier this summer. So much so, that the All-Pro running back has yet to sign his tender as he continues to hold out for a longer-term contract with the Raiders — one that the team clearly does not want to give him at the moment.
Jacobs has not been with the team throughout training camp, and there has been some fear that this saga could last even longer than initially expected.
Josh Jacobs Expected to Report to Training Camp
The good news for Raiders fans is that Jacobs now appears willing to rejoin the squad. According to Vincent Bonsignore of of the Las Vegas Journal-Review, the 25-year-old running back is now expected to return within the next few weeks:
“Running back Josh Jacobs is expected to report to the Raiders before their season opener in three weeks, multiple league sources have indicated,” Bonsignore wrote.
This is obviously a significant update in this contract saga with Jacobs now rejoining the team sooner rather than later. His exact return date has not yet been revealed, but at least it’s now clear that he will be back with the team before the new season starts.
Josh McDaniels Speaks Out on Josh Jacobs’ Imminent Return
While Jacobs’ imminent return is a step toward the right direction in terms of his future with the Raiders, the fact of the matter is that the two-time Pro Bowler is running out of time in terms of getting ready for the new season. Las Vegas’ campaign will start on September 10th with a Week 1 matchup against the Denver Broncos, and the longer he holds out, the less time Jacobs will have to prepare for 2023.
Raiders head cosh Josh McDaniels has spoken out about this situation and he’s already raised some concerns about Jacobs’ readiness for the new campaign amid this extended standoff:
“I don’t have any new news on J.J.,” McDaniels said. “I mean, I would say I think that it’s important for every player—this is the National Football League, so it’s not easy to go out there and just play games and do it at the speed and level that you want to do it at unless you’ve really kind of had enough opportunity to get yourself ready to do that.
“… We’ve talked all year to our team about nothing carries over from one year to the next. You have to reestablish your individual level of performance and collectively as a unit, and ultimately as a team, we have to establish and reestablish ourselves in terms of what we’re going to be about. So, whether it would be J.J. or somebody else, it’s the same thing. Everybody’s got to have an opportunity to do that, get reacclimated to the pace, the speed of things. But again, I have no new information on the whole situation.”
Could Josh Jacobs actually decide not to play Jacobs in Week 1 if the Raiders shot-caller determines that his star running back just isn’t game-ready? I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.
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