Getty Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs was the NFL’s leading rusher in 2022. But he’s in the midst of a contract holdout at the moment, and to make matters worse for Raider Nation, he’s being linked to the Kansas City Chiefs as a result.
David Latham of Last Word on Sports named six potential trade destinations for Jacobs and named the Chiefs as the final and least likely destination for the All-Pro back.
“This one is the longest of long shot, but the Kansas City Chiefs deserve a mention just due to how perfect the fit is,” Latham wrote on June 11.
“The Chiefs have the best offense in football, but their starting running back is a seventh-round pick that doesn’t catch passes. Jacobs has the three-down skillset that Andy Reid craves, and the running back would make this offense all the harder to defend. It’s hard to imagine a world where the Raiders trade Josh Jacobs to a division rival, but anything could happen in the wild NFL. The Raiders are going to be bad in 2023, so if the Chiefs are making the highest offer, then perhaps they embrace the tank and watch the rich get richer.”
Josh Jacobs Coming Off of Epic Season
Josh Jacobs entered the NFL as a first-round pick of the Raiders in 2019 out of Alabama. After rattling off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to start his NFL career, a down year in 2021 — which consisted of a 217-872-9 stat line — resulted in Las Vegas not picking up his fifth-year option. That meant the 2022 season weighed heavily on the trajectory of Jacobs’ NFL career.
Under new head coach Josh McDaniels, Jacobs had career-highs in carries (340), rushing yards (1,653), and tied his career-high in touchdowns (12) in 17 regular season games played during the 2022 season according to Pro Football Reference. His rushing yards total earned him his first-ever NFL rushing title as well.
Despite the All-Pro performance, the Raiders slapped the franchise tag on Jacobs this off-season with the hopes of agreeing to a long-term extension by the franchise tag deadline, which is July 17. But as of June 12, the two parties have failed to agree to terms on a long-term extension, which is why Jacobs has and will continue to hold out of off-season activities.
Could Chiefs Pull Off a Trade for Josh Jacobs?
While Josh Jacobs would likely replicate his elite production in the backfield as a member of the Chiefs, as Davis Latham mentioned — being traded to Kansas City is one of the least likely scenarios for Jacobs. Aside from the fact that the Raiders and Chiefs are division rivals, the defending Super Bowl champions don’t have the money to pay Jacobs.
According to Over The Cap’s effective cap space (the cap space a team will have after signing at least 51 players and its projected rookie class to its roster), the Chiefs have $652,557 in available cap space. So, the team would need to free up at least several million dollars in cap space if they wanted to trade for Jacobs.
Bundle that with the fact that Kansas City already has starting running back Isiah Pacheco who is on a rookie deal, and we can consider this trade scenario nothing more than an early summer daydream for Chiefs Kingdom.
