The Green Bay Packers will keep running back Josh Jacobs on the roster for now after prosecutors filed two misdemeanor charges Thursday stemming from a May incident at his home.
ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky posted the team’s statement and immediately assessed the club’s next step.
“Clearly, the Packers are not cutting Jacobs — at least not at this point,” Demovsky wrote.
The Packers said: “We are aware of the charges brought against Josh Jacobs. We will continue to cooperate with the NFL as we work through the process. We will have no further comment at this time.”
Brown County District Attorney David L. Lasee charged Jacobs, 28, with misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Each Class A misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
The charges follow a May 23 disturbance at Jacobs’ residence in the Green Bay area. Hobart-Lawrence police responded around 8:37 a.m. after a report of a conflict between Jacobs and his girlfriend.
Jacobs was arrested May 26 and booked on five counts that included felony strangulation and suffocation plus four misdemeanors that carried domestic-abuse enhancers. He spent one night in jail and was released the next day while prosecutors continued their review.
After months of additional investigation, including forensic work, the district attorney’s office did not file the felony or the domestic-violence-labeled counts. Jacobs is scheduled for an initial court appearance Nov. 17.
“Our office sought to ensure a fair and complete review of available evidence, some of which only recently became available to our office due to significant, ongoing forensic efforts by law enforcement,” Lasee said. He added that a complaint is an accusation and that Jacobs is presumed innocent.
Jacobs’ attorneys said the charges “do not include domestic violence” and that the case will be handled in court.
“The allegations will be addressed in court, and not in the media. Mr. Jacobs respects the District Attorney’s office and the process it followed,” the statement from David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III read.
The NFL is conducting a separate investigation under its personal conduct policy and can discipline a player even without a conviction. League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday, “We have been closely monitoring all developments in the matter, which remains under review.”
The policy has long used a six-game unpaid suspension as a baseline for a first offense involving domestic violence or similar physical violence, with longer bans possible for aggravating factors. Recent cases have produced a range of outcomes, including an eight-game suspension for Falcons defensive end James Pearce Jr. after a domestic-related arrest.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said this week the team has prepared for a possible absence.
“We’ll deal with that when it comes, but we’ve obviously been preparing for that in case that happens,” Gutekunst said. “At the same time, I feel really good about the guys we got in that room, and I think we can survive that.”
Jacobs remains one of Green Bay’s most productive offensive players. In 2024, his first season with the Packers after signing as a free agent, he rushed for 1,329 yards and a career-high 15 touchdowns and earned a Pro Bowl nod. Last season he added 929 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in 15 games.
He has 7,803 career rushing yards and 74 rushing touchdowns in 105 NFL games since the Raiders drafted him 24th overall in 2019. Cutting a starter of that production is rare when charges are misdemeanors and the legal process is unfinished.
Jacobs has practiced through most of the offseason and training camp when healthy, aside from a groin issue that has limited him at times. The Packers open the regular season soon, and any league discipline could arrive before or after the court process.
For now, the franchise’s public posture is cooperation with the NFL and no further comment. Demovsky’s reading of that statement is that Jacobs will remain on the team unless new information or league action changes the calculation.
