Giants Missed out on RB Josh Jacobs in Free Agency for 4 Reasons: Report

The New York Giants ended up saving some cap space when they swapped out Saquon Barkley for Devin Singletary at running back in 2024 NFL free agency, but according to a report from The Athletic’s Dan Pompei, they were much more willing to spend big money on former Las Vegas Raiders ball carrier Josh Jacobs.

“The Giants came on strong with an offer between $3 million and $4 million more than he eventually accepted,” Pompei wrote on August 29. This would imply that Big Blue offered somewhere between $51 or $52 million for Jacobs, who eventually received $48 million from the Green Bay Packers over four years.

The four reasons — per Pompei — that Jacobs chose Green Bay over New York?

“Jacobs was turned off by the New York taxes, lifestyle, media and the artificial turf at MetLife Stadium,” the reporter relayed.

He also noted that Jacobs “gave the Raiders an opportunity to match” the Packers $48 million contract, hoping to stay in Las Vegas. Adding: “When they said no, he told them he would accept less than the Packers offered if they included incentives. The Raiders turned him down.”

Giants Reporters Question Supposed Josh Jacobs Offer

This story took a couple of days to make its way into the Giants community, but it eventually did on September 1. And New York Post reporter Ryan Dunleavy immediately questioned its accuracy based on sources of his own.

“To my understanding — and we all know I pay a lot of attention to RB contracts — [the] Giants never made Josh Jacobs an actual offer,” Dunleavy responded on X. “Jacobs signed with [the] Packers about an hour before Saquon Barkley signed with [the Philadelphia] Eagles.”

Later, when a fan countered asking why Jacobs would lie about something like this, Dunleavy replied: “I doubt Josh Jacobs knowingly lied. Sometimes numbers get tossed around that aren’t ‘offers.’ Sometimes there is miscommunication between agents and clients. You can bet a lot of RB agents used [the] Giants as leverage this offseason.”

NorthJersey.com beat reporter Art Stapleton also showed Dunleavy some support in a post of his own, stating: “Consistent with what Ryan said: My reporting throughout the off-season does not corroborate what Josh Jacobs told The Athletic regarding the Giants and an offer.”

Big Blue paid Singletary $5.5 million per year compared to the $12 million per year Jacobs ended up earning. The Giants also only committed to three years total — and two years of guaranteed money — while the Packers committed to four years with guarantees spread out across the entire length of the deal.

Why Giants Might Have Been Willing to Pay Josh Jacobs Rather Than Saquon Barkley

If you’re wondering why the Giants would pay Jacobs but not Barkley, there are a couple of potential reasons.

For starters, Jacobs is younger than Barkley by one year — which is relatively minor but means more at the running back position.

More importantly, Barkley has dealt with injuries throughout most seasons while Jacobs has been an iron man as far as RBs are concerned. Since entering the league in 2019, Jacobs has appeared in 15 or more games in three out of his five campaigns.

And in the two years he didn’t reach 15 games, he still suited up for 13. That yields a total of 73 regular season appearances and 1 playoff outing.

By comparison, Barkley has taken the field for 74 regular season games and 2 playoff matchups since 2018 — which gives him a one-year advantage on Jacobs. He’s also appeared in 14 or fewer outings in four out of six seasons, with the obvious low-mark being his 2-start campaign in 2020.

Barkley and Jacobs have near identical yards per carry and yards per reception numbers throughout their respective careers.

Michael Obermuller covers the NFL and NHL for Heavy.com, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins, as well as the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. An NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate, his previous bylines include FanDuel’s The Duel, King Fantasy Sports and Pro Football Mania. More about Michael Obermuller