Josh Jacobs made some waves yesterday on Radio Row.

So it’s Super Bowl media week. Which means everyone and their mother is in New Orleans doing their national radio shows on Radio Row. Which also means you have a TON of NFL players and former NFL players making the rounds. 9 times out of 10 you end up interviewing a retired player who is shilling copper arm bands, regenerative medicine (no surgery!), or low T pills (your wife will love them too *WINK*!).

But sometimes you get a current player who has something a little more provocative to say. Enter: Josh Jacobs. A few things on his comments in no particular order:

• He is correct. I will admit, I was wrong about the Packer wide receiver room entering this season. Coming out of 2023 it felt like they had 4-5 legit wide receivers who were all ascending together. Spread the ball around! We don’t need a #1! Welp, the conclusion at the end of the 2024 season is that they do, in fact, need an adult in the room. I’m not saying that guys like Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvion Wicks, etc. are all busts. But they all sort of treaded water this season. I expect that many of them will take steps forward next season (remember how many people wanted Davante Adams cut or traded after a sophomore slump season), but having the consistent threat of a #1 wide out feels like a priority this offseason.
• Even though Jacobs is correct in his assessment, did this NEED to be said on such a public platform. I’m sure plenty of fans are going to say, “Good! Tell it like it is! These guys are adults and need to be able to take criticism!” While I don’t necessarily disagree, the fact of the matter is that this is going to rub guys in the locker room the wrong way. In fact, Dontayvion Wicks immediately took to Twitter:

• Again, I think Jacobs is right with his take, but it’s one thing for an idiot like me to talk about the Packers needing a #1 on an internet blog, it’s another for a team leader to call you out publicly on national radio. I think Jacobs is well respected in that locker room, but would he be cool with Wicks going on a radio show and saying, “our running back needs to not put the ball on the turf next season.’ I dunno. Maybe he’d be fine with it, maybe he wouldn’t.

At the end of the day, I think this will ultimately be good for the Packers. I like that Josh Jacobs is willing to speak plainly, he recognizes that this team is a few pieces away, and he wants that known. It sounds like he is also actively recruiting players to come to Green Bay, just like he said he would after the loss in Philadelphia. One reason this season didn’t pan out the way we all hoped is that a young team (youngest roster in the league, not sure if that was ever pointed out) didn’t have players stepping up as leaders. It’s not a coincidence that both Matt LaFleur AND Gutey talked about Jordan Love needing to be more of a leader next season as well.

My guess is Jacobs texted all of those guys at the end of the day yesterday to smooth things over, but it did cause a stir on Packer Twitter, and gave great content to people like me.

PS: I am starting to think that the young wide receiver room approached this season like their sh– didn’t stink. They were tremendous at the end of 2023,  and I’m sure they heard and read about that plenty heading into 2024. But nobody really leveled up the way we thought they would, Doubs left the team for a while because he was upset about his role, Wicks seems like he’s in his feelings a bit after being called out by Jacobs, Tucker Kraft had some comments about ‘guys in the locker room’ that we blogged about at the end of the season, it all kind of points in that direction.