Josh Jacobs' contract with Packers includes bizarre clause

The Green Bay Packers made one of the most shocking moves of the first day of the NFL free agency. They relased Aaron Jones after trying to get him to take a pay cut of over 50%, according to some reports.

Moreover, they replaced him with Josh Jacobs, one of the most sought-after free agents in the game, and the best offensive player in the Las Vegas Raiders for years now.

While this move made sense from a football standpoint, as he’s three years younger than Jones, some questioned the length and big money they gave him, as they signed him to a four-year deal worth a whopping $48 million.

Josh Jacobs’ New Contract With The Packers Has Three One-Year Options

According to a report by NFL insider Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the deal isn’t that impressive after all, as there’s no guaranteed money beyond the first year, and the deal essentially has three one-year options:

Josh Jacobs

“Per a source with knowledge of the deal, the contract has a $12.5 million signing bonus, and no other guaranteed payments,” wrote Florio. “His 2024 base salary of $1.2 million is guaranteed as a practical matter, pushing the first-year haul to $13.7 million. He also has a $600,000 offseason workout bonus, and up to $500,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. That’s up to $14.8 million for one year. After that, it’s up to the Packers.”

Of course, the Packers will hope this works out for them, and given Jacobs’ durability, production, and dynamic skill set, there’s no reason to think that won’t be the case.

Then again, running backs tend to fall off a cliff faster than players in all other positions, so it only made sense that they looked to cover their backs in the case things didn’t work out as well as expected.