The Packers' ground game can't rely solely on Josh Jacobs heroics for Green Bay to be super
Josh Jacobs and the run game carried the 2024 Green Bay Packers offenses for long stretches, but was unreliable in 2025. Jordan Love picked up the slack, but a two-headed monster would be vicious.
Good morning!
The Green Bay Packers are officially back in the building this week with Organized Team Activities, with minicamp around the corner in early June. So far, it’s been a drama-free offseason with the Pack, and we don’t expect any ultimatums, holdouts, or weirdness for offseason work.
With that in mind, we aim at one of the most undercovered stories of the 2025 season (our hands are up): the disappearing rushing attack.
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What happened to the Green Bay Packers running game, and how can they fix it moving forward?
Peter Bukowski: The Packers finished as the fourth-best offense last season by EPA/play, and sixth in DVOA, but the lack of a killer rushing attack is one of the biggest reasons they never felt that level of elite.
In 2024, Josh Jacobs and the running game carried the offense for long stretches of the season, especially with Jordan Love hurt.
Matt LaFleur told one of the television production crew he liked to start the first drive establishing the run because it set a tone for the game. But the 2025 Packers never established that tone, despite investing in bigger bodies upfront. And while there is a Jacobs conversation to be had, and we’ll have it, that’s where this problem starts.
When the underwhelming offensive line gets criticized for the Packers, the discussion tends to center around pass protection. Love and LaFleur showed last year they can mitigate some of those issues with playcalling virtuosity and playmaking in the passing game, but this offense hums at its precision peak when the run game and pass game work in tandem.
The Packers sixth-ranked offense last season by DVOA finished 18th in rushing. That fourth-ranked EPA/play offense landed 21st in EPA/rush and ninth in success rate. Those numbers are down from third in DVOA and ninth in EPA/play in 2024, with the success rate holding just about steady (11th in 2024).
They could get four yards on first down, but rarely broke explosive runs and weren’t nearly as automatic in the low red zone as they had been in 2024. And there is the matter of being one of the worst short-yardage run games in the NFL on third and fourth down.
That, undoubtedly, is an offensive line issue.
When it comes to measuring the effects of offensive line vs. running back, the first four to five yards come from the line. After that, it’s up to the back to create explosives above and beyond what is blocked.
Last year, Jacobs averaged just two yards before contact per attempt. Jahmyr Gibbs managed 3.4 before contact. Now, some of that is Gibbs gets downhill in a hurry, and he’s harder to contact with his speed, but that Lions offensive line, for all its faults, moves bodies (It’s worth noting David Montgomery, in the same backfield, averaged 2.3 yards before contact).
Last year, the Packers finished 19th in ESPN’s Run Block Win Rate and 22nd in Pro Football Focus’ run block grade, which makes it tough for the Green Bay backs to make it all work.
That’s on the offensive line, and that has to be better.
But here’s the thing: In 2024, the Packers actually finished worse in Run Block Win Rate and were the same in PFF grade on the ground. The blocking wasn’t materially different in 2025, but the running backs were.
Or should I say, running back, singular.
It was more than Jacobs was not as good; it’s just not fair to blame it on him. He dealt with injuries, and while he flashed some explosiveness, he looked slower and less elusive than he had in his first season with the Pack.
That’s undeniably true. Jacobs finished 29th in yards after contact per attempt in 2025. The season before, he was seventh. That was the difference.
That yards before contact figure? The exact same in 2024.
But that’s not to say this is Jacobs’ fault. It’s not! He was awesome in his first season with the Packers, covering up for the offensive line's faults. Last year, while dealing with an injury, he was not, but that doesn’t change the flaws he had to cover for in the first place.
He somehow still managed to bank more runs of 10+ yards than in 2024.
In some ways, it makes Jacobs’ 2024 season even more remarkable. Saquon Barkley averaged almost double the yards before contact that Jacobs saw. In fact, his offensive line was almost a half-yard worse per attempt than every running back who wound up with more rushing yards than him.
The approach can’t be, ‘Hope Josh Jacobs is a superhero.’ He can be, but not reliably, and it adds wear and tear on his body, making it harder to be. The solution to the Packers’ run game issues isn’t to expect Jacobs to do more than any other back has to, but rather to make life easier on him by actually opening some running lanes.
It’s time for the revamped offensive line to actually look … revamped.