For several seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Jones was one of the most productive running backs in the NFL. Last offseason, the Packers released Jones and signed Josh Jacobs.
Entering the 2025 NFL season, both players are moving up the career rushing list.
Last season, Jones became the 69th player in NFL history with 7,000 career rushing yards and finished his eighth NFL season with 7,078 rushing yards. Jacobs, meanwhile, is closing in on that number with 6,874 rushing yards in six seasons.
If they duplicate last year’s success, they’ll join the rather prestigious 8,000-yard club. Only 54 players in NFL history have hit that mark. Twenty of those players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with at least a few more on the way to Canton.
Jacobs rushed for 1,329 yards last season. If he matches that figure, he’d finish the season with 8,203 rushing yards. Only 45 players have rushed for 8,200 yards.
Jones, who had three 1,000-yard seasons for the Packers, rushed for a career-high 1,138 yards last year after signing with the rival Vikings. If he hits that mark again, he’d be at 8,216 for his career.
Jacobs had a tour de force debut season in Green Bay. He was a one-man wrecking crew at times on the way to finishing sixth in the league in rushing. Impressively, Jacobs finished third in the league with 1,039 rushing yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I feel like I left a lot on the table,” Jacobs said during OTAs. “I feel like I had a good year but I feel like I still left a lot on the table. So, for me, it’s just trying to come in and chase that No. 1 spot and raise a Super Bowl [trophy] at the end of the day. That’s the only thing that’s really on my mind.”
What could he have possibly left on the table? An incredible 78.2 percent of his rushing yards came after contact, the highest percentage among the NFL’s top 10 rushers.
“I had like 300-some yards called back [by penalties],” Jacobs said. “But, not only that, there were a few plays where I had some one-on-ones where if I made a person miss or broke that tackle, it was the difference between a 20-yard gain and a 60-yard gain. So, them little things like that, I feel like that’s what makes people elite. So, that’s the thing I’ve tried to come in the offseason and work on.
Running backs coach Ben Sirmans thought Jacobs was moving and cutting better this year than last year.
“The guy is a dawg, not just in the way he carries the ball but also just his presence,” Sirmans said before the start of OTAs. “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.”
Last year’s NFL rushing champion, Saquon Barkley, topped 2,000 rushing yards. Of his total, 912 came before contact. Jacobs had only 290. The hope is a beefed-up offensive line will get Jacobs some easier yards before he works his tackle-breaking, leg-churning magic.
“Obviously, we’re still working out the kinks” up front, Jacobs said. “But I tell people all the time, if you take a good back and you give him space, that’s what separates a lot of people.
“Like, if I’m getting touched 3 yards [downfield] and I only have to worry about a linebacker or a safety, I’m going to win a lot more of those than I lose. So, I think that’s the difference. Obviously, Saquon, a special player like him with an elite line, Like, it’s just going to make you look crazy [great], you know? So, obviously, we’re chasing that right now and we’re going to see how it plays out.”
