GREEN BAY, Wis. – Saquan Barkley posted the ninth 2,000-yard rushing season in NFL history in 2024, running away with NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors in the process. He added another 499 yards in the playoffs to give him a 20-game total of 2,504 rushing yards and 20 rushing/receiving touchdowns.
Is Barkley the best running back in the NFL? While the numbers speak for themselves, they do for Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, as well.
With the Packers beginning three weeks of offseason practices on Tuesday, Jacobs is more than just the Leader of the Pack. An argument can be made that Jacobs is just as good as Barkley, the Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry and the Detroit Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs, the three backs who swept the All-Pro voting.
“I just tried to come in and put my stamp on the game,” he told FanDuel’s Kay Adams before the draft. “And so being able to come in the first year and do that and be a leader in this locker room and things like that, make my statement in this community, it’s been huge. But I also felt like I still left a lot on the field. So, trying to come in and just improve each and every day and see where it goes.”
In his debut season with the Packers, Jacobs finished sixth in the NFL with 1,329 rushing yards – he might have finished in the top four if not sitting out most of Week 18 – and fourth with 15 rushing touchdowns.
While Barkley outrushed Jacobs by 676 yards, they in some ways were playing a completely different game.
Barkley ran behind the game’s most dominant offensive line. Moreover, he played alongside a dual-threat quarterback and an elite group of veteran playmakers.
Jacobs ran behind a solid offensive line but one that general manager Brian Gutekunst thought required significant upgrades in free agency (Aaron Banks) and the draft (Anthony Belton). He played alongside a hobbled quarterback and a young group of playmakers that didn’t live up to the hype.
With a Super Bowl-winning team around him, Barkley’s film was filled with highlight-reel plays in which he had a head of steam, exploded untouched past the line of scrimmage and was left with one-on-ones against the secondary. According to Pro Football Focus, Barkley had 835 rushing yards on runs of 15-plus yards compared to 282 yards for Jacobs.
“I’m telling y’all, I study film for real and I’m watching this line like, this line is amazing. He damn near gets 3, 4 yards without being touched,” Jacobs said on The Pivot Podcast.
Here were the 2024 NFL rushing leaders, with analytical numbers from PFF and Sports Info Solutions.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs celebrates scoring a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs celebrates scoring a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers. / Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Saquon Barkley, Eagles
Rushing yards: 2,005
Yards before contact: 912
Yards after contact: 1,093
Percentage of yards after contact: 54.5
Yards after contact per carry: 3.17
Broken-tackle percentage: 11.9
Derrick Henry, Ravens
Rushing yards: 1,921
Yards before contact: 784
Yards after contact: 1,137
Percentage of yards after contact: 59.2
Yards after contact per carry: 3.50
Broken-tackle percentage: 20.3
Bijan Robinson, Falcons
Rushing yards: 1,456
Yards before contact: 536
Yards after contact: 920
Percentage of yards after contact: 63.2
Yards after contact per carry: 3.03
Broken-tackle percentage: 18.4
Jonathan Taylor, Colts
Rushing yards: 1,431
Yards before contact: 618
Yards after contact: 813
Percentage of yards after contact: 56.8
Yards after contact per carry: 2.68
Broken-tackle percentage: 10.9
Jahmyr Gibbs, Lions
Rushing yards: 1,412
Yards before contact: 578
Yards after contact: 834
Percentage of yards after contact: 59.1
Yards after contact per carry: 3.34
Broken-tackle percentage: 21.2
Josh Jacobs, Packers
Rushing yards: 1,329
Yards before contact: 290
Yards after contact: 1,039
Percentage of yards after contact: 78.2
Yards after contact per carry: 3.45
Broken-tackle percentage: 19.9
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs gets past the line against the Chicago Bears.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs gets past the line against the Chicago Bears. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
The big number is the percentage of yards after contact. To put them all on one line: Jacobs, 78.2 percent; Robinson, 63.2 percent; Henry, 59.2 percent; Gibbs, 59.1 percent; Taylor, 56.8 percent; Barkley, 54.5 percent.
The trend continued in the playoffs. In the Packers-Eagles wild-card game, Jacobs ran for 81 yards with 74 coming after contact and 12 missed tackles, while Barkley ran for 119 yards with 56 after contact and five missed tackles.
It was a blast-from-the-past season for Jacobs, who led the NFL with 1,653 rushing yards and 2,053 scrimmage yards during an All-Pro season with the Raiders in 2022. His numbers crashed in 2023, though that was a combination of a contract dispute that impacted the start of his season, a quad injury that sidelined him for the final four games of the season and the Raiders’ all-around woes stemming from a bad offensive line and midseason coaching change.
It was vintage Jacobs in 2024, though, as he consistently gained yards that weren’t there to be gained.
“The guy is a dawg, not just in the way he carries the ball but also just his presence,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said recently. “Being around really good running backs, they have a presence about them on the field that kind of permeates throughout the team through their game play as well as when they’re in the locker room.
“Because besides the quarterback, you’re touching the ball probably more than anybody else out there, so you can affect the emotions of the team more than anybody else. Obviously, I think he surprised a lot of us with his ability to catch the ball and his ability to do things with the ball after the catch. We know that’s something that we can expand on. So, he’s been everything that we would hope for and definitely the engine for us offensively.”
Indeed, Jacobs was the engine and the ignition. Nobody set the tone like Jacobs, who led the NFL with 505 rushing yards in the first quarter of games. Aaron Jones (450) and Henry (407) were the only backs with 400 rushing yards in the opening quarter.
“I like to play what I consider mind games,” Jacobs told his former coach, Jon Gruden. “I like to hit people early. Especially the DBs and the linebackers, I like to hit them early to set up everything that I could do later. I feel like DBs, they always do two things. Either they catch after you hit them or they shoot for your legs after that, so it’s just setting up anything else that I want to do later in the game.”
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) avoids a tackle from Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Ventrell Miller.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) avoids a tackle from Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Ventrell Miller. / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Jacobs isn’t just a physical plow horse. He caught 36-of-41 targets in the passing game. Of 37 running backs who were targeted at least 30 times, Jacobs finished fourth in yards per catch (9.5) and fourth in yards after the catch per catch (11.3). He was efficient and physical, ranking first in drops (zero) and missed tackles (21), according to PFF.
With a new season hitting a noteworthy mile marker this week with the start of OTAs, Jacobs is ready for the next step.
When he signed with the Packers in free agency, he let his actions do the talking on the practice field. He wanted his new teammates to see him work. Once the season started, Jacobs wanted to be the player who set the tone.
As good as he was in 2024, he could be even better in 2025.
“His quickness right now, his cutting ability, going through drills, exploding, he looks better this year than he did last year at this time,” Sirmans said. “The way that he practices is the same way that he plays. He’s looking to set the tone every opportunity he gets and to try to get people to follow and match that type of mentality.”
Jacobs is entering Year 7, tying him for the fourth-most experience on the roster behind kicker Brandon McManus (12 years), defensive tackle Kenny Clark (10) and cornerback Jaire Alexander (eight). Last year’s playoff game was just the second of his career.
Before that season-ending loss to the Eagles, he told the younger players to follow his lead. His 31-yard run, in which he almost turned a negative-yardage play into a touchdown by running through half the defense, is what is needed to win big games.
“Just watching how the Eagles played last year, I feel like we played them better than any other team,” he told Adams. “Just watching the playoffs, it let me know that we’re really close. I think that we obviously needed to add a couple of pieces. But not only that, I think that we just need to build that stamina and that mental callous late in the season to be able to do what we want to do.”
Nobody is more mentally calloused than Jacobs, a three-time Pro Bowler who somehow is overlooked when considering the NFL’s elite running backs.
“The difference between an average, good, great and special back is the guys that are able to still make things happen, whether it’s things breaking down or people confronting them at the line of scrimmage or a couple yards beyond,” Sirmans said. “If you’re still productive, those are the special guys. Those are the great ones.”