Green Bay Packers’ RB Josh Jacobs has been in a bit of limbo with the NFL following his May arrest on domestic battery-related charges. But after spending the first five weeks on the Commissioner Exempt List, it appears that everything is a-okay with him – for now.
On Friday, NFL insider Ian Rapoport shared a statement from the NFL that Jacobs is set to be removed from the Commissioner Exempt List on Monday, October 19. He will be eligible to play in Week 7 for the Packers when they take on the Detroit Lions.
“The National Football League today notified Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers that he will be removed from the Commissioner Exempt List on October 19. He will be eligible to play in the Packers’ Week 7 game on October 25 after missing six games,” the statement said.
“The NFL initiated an investigation under the Personal Conduct Policy following Jacobs’ arrest in May. The league’s review remains ongoing and is not affected by this change to Jacobs’ roster status.
“Jacobs was placed on the Commissioner Exempt List on August 30.”
Functionally, this decision seems to serve as a soft suspension for Jacobs. He will have missed six games, which just so happens to be the base suspension for any domestic violence-related punishments. The NFL has pretty much made it clear that any time spent on the Commissioner Exempt List would count towards potential suspensions.
Fans React with Anger and Warnings
Given the seriousness of the allegations against Jacobs, fans were not at all amused to see the league showing Jacobs leniency. Many are saying that he should be in jail and not eligible to play an NFL game in a little over a week.
“Maybe I’m the crazy one here but I don’t think you should be allowed to play in a football game while you’re still facing an investigation for physical violence against a woman,” one user on X remarked.
“This piece of (expletive) should be behind bars. And when this video gets leaked to TMZ, that’ll be the end of Jacobs in the league and the NFL will have another Ray Rice (expletive) show on their hands,” wrote another.
“Smoke pot and you’re blackballed but put hands on a woman and you’re chilling after 6 games,” a third said.
“I know TMZ is paying top dollar for that video.”
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
There have been rumors that there’s some sort of video out there of what Jacobs did to get arrested that some believe might be as bad as the infamous Ray Rice video of 2014.
No such video has been made public as of yet, but it’s believed that TMZ might pay through the nose to get their hands on it like they got the Ray Rice video 12 years ago.
If such a video were to become public right on the heels of the NFL reinstating Jacobs, the backlash from 2014 might look like a cakewalk compared to what could happen next.
