Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about starting running back Josh Jacobs’ standing with the club, following Thursday’s news that Jacobs was officially being charged with battery and criminal damage to property, after the Packers’ win on Friday against the Arizona Cardinals. He didn’t leave any grey area in his response: “I fully anticipate him being a member of our team.”
Green Bay is standing by Jacobs, at least for now. In Brown County’s report on the Jacobs charges, they state that a video was captured via a security system at Jacobs’ residence. According to the report, Jacobs threw an unnamed woman, described in the report as his girlfriend, on the ground, leaving “observed redness” on the woman’s face and neck. She also was left with a bump on her head, per the report.
Brown County stated that the video, among other things, includes “the altercation” that took place in the garage, confirming the unnamed woman’s claims to police, as well as Jacobs taking the unnamed woman’s phone once she was on the floor of the garage.
Jacobs was not given a “domestic violence enhancer” on his charges, in part because of the state’s specific requirements for the label “domestic violence.” To receive a domestic violence label on a charge in Wisconsin, a victim must have either previously or currently been married to, living with or have a child with the perpetrator. The presumption here is that the victim did not live with Jacobs, therefor Jacobs cannot receive the domestic violence enhancer, despite the victim being described as his girlfriend in the police report.
It is expected that Jacobs will receive probation and enter a batterers intervention program, if found guilty, based on the precedent of previous cases with similar details in the state of Wisconsin. Generally, the NFL punishes domestic violence cases with a five- to six-game suspension, but the question now is whether the Packers believe a suspension would be applied to the 2026 season or the 2027 season, if Jacobs is found guilty in-season.
As it stands today, Jacobs was already likely to be released by Green Bay going into the 2027 season, as his cap hit jumps to $16.6 million in 2027, while his dead cap is reduced to just $3.1 million — meaning that the Packers would save $13.5 million in cap space by moving on from Jacobs next year. This is all to say: Even before the charges, it was already likely that Jacobs’ final season in Green Bay was going to be 2026.
The other factor looming around the incident, now that Green Bay’s brass have made their stance clear, is what the team’s reaction would be to the video from Jacobs’ residence going public. In the past, general manager Brian Gutekunst has stated that he would not add players to the team if they put hands on women, but would the team still hold that line if a video shows Jacobs doing just that?
As of the time of this article, the video that was referred to in Brown County’s report has not surfaced in the media, and LaFleur has not been asked about whether he or the team has seen the video. The Packers will have no media availability until Tuesday, when reporters will be able to get their first opportunity to ask LaFleur and Gutekunst questions following Sunday’s roster cutdowns, as rosters will shrink from 91 players to a 53-man practice squad and (on Monday) a 17-man practice squad.
When asked about whether or not Jacobs was going to be able to play in Week 1, LaFleur stated, “I can’t really comment on that, because I don’t know.”
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