Josh McDaniels Takes Clear Stance on Josh Jacobs Trade Rumors

More often than not, teams choose to sit their starters for the annual Pro Hall of Fame Game. That's why fans were a bit shocked to see Josh Jacobs starting for the Las Vegas Raiders when they faced the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since then, speculation has swirled about Jacobs' future with the franchise.

After people assumed that the Raiders started Jacobs to showcase him for a potential trade, head coach Josh McDaniels promptly shut those rumors down on Monday.

Raiders Roster Rumors

McDaniels told reports on Monday that the Raiders "have no desire" to trade Jacobs. He added that the team has "a lot of confidence" in the 24-year-old rusher and believes that "he did well with his opportunities" in the past.

Jacobs is coming off of a down season that saw him fail to rush for 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. He still recorded 872 yards and nine touchdowns on 217 carries while catching 54 of his 64 targets (84.4%) for another 348 yards. Nevertheless, he still averaged 4.0 yards per carry and his totals were diminished due to Kenyan Drake's presence at backup.

After the Hall of Fame Game, McDaniels told the media playing starting RBs in the preseason lets them work on things that "you can't simulate in practice." Considering that four of Las Vegas' starting five offensive linemen were also in the game, it's easy to see why the trade rumors are surprising.

On the other hand, the Raiders did decline Jacobs' fifth-year option back in April. He's a talented rusher, but it's clear that they're hoping that he can prove himself by taking things to the next level in the high-powered offense led by Derek Carr, Davante Adams, Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow.

For now, it looks like Raiders fans don't have to worry about Jacobs' status for the 2022 NFL season. If he can't show improvements in his fourth NFL season, though, it could be an entirely different conversation next offseason.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.