Josh Jacobs needs to regain his elite form in order for the Green Bay Packers' offense to really take off in 2025

Josh Jacobs is an All-Pro running back for the Green Bay Packers. 

He's exactly the type of running back that head coach Matt LaFleur covets. LaFleur loves to set up the play-action passing game with a strong dose of the running game. He's a Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay disciple, and in his one season as offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, we saw him lean on Derrick Henry to make life easier for a career backup quarterback in Marcus Mariota.

LaFleur was handed the keys in Green Bay in 2019 and he's been lauded as one of the best play-callers in the NFL ever since. 

Yes, the Packers have ups and downs like any other organization, but LaFleur coached two more MVP seasons out of Aaron Rodgers and then facilitated a smooth transition to Jordan Love at quarterback.

The quarterbacks get all the attention in Green Bay, but beneath all of that success was a steady diet of Aaron Jones on the ground and then in 2024, a steady diet of Jacobs.

Jacobs rushed 301 times for the Packers last season, totaling 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns. It was a career high in touchdowns for the former Oakland/Las Vegas Raider and the third-best yards per carry average (4.4 yards) in his young but extremely successful career. 

Jacobs was a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro candidate and even in the running for the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, albeit on the outside looking in.

He was a stabilizing force for Green Bay's offense and a punishing tool LaFleur could use against opposing defenses, and now, here in 2025, the Packers need their running back to once again regain that elite form.

So far this season, Jacobs has rushed 80 times for 266 yards and four touchdowns, but he's averaging just 3.3 yards per carry. Yes, a big chunk of that drop off in YPC has to do with injuries the Packers have dealt with on the offensive line, but Jacobs is the type of runner who barely needs a gap to barrel forward and get four yards and a cloud of dust on every carry.

He's a chain mover when he's on top of his game, and the Packers need him to move a few more chains now that the bye week has come and gone.

We saw glimpses of his elite form against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4. He rushed 22 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns while adding four catches for 78 yards.

That's the type of production that the Packers need from Jacobs on a week-to-week basis in order to truly unlock LaFleur's offense. 

Jacobs had three games with 100-plus rushing yards last season. During his first-team All-Pro season in 2022 for the Raiders, he notched 100-plus yards six times and even had a game with 229 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

This is a running back who can single-handedly win games. In the same way that Micah Parsons can tilt the field for Green Bay's defense, Jacobs can be that type of player for the offense.

Now the Packers need him to go out and do it.