The Return of the Workhorse

Matt LaFleur has been calling offensive plays for the Green Bay Packers for five years. It’s no secret that LaFleur loves to have his team throw the ball. As each season unfolds, he will proclaim on numerous occasions that he needs to call more running plays, but he just can’t seem to bring himself to do it. 

Perhaps the reason is LaFleur has never believed he has had a true workhorse running back. Someone you can pound 25 to 30 times every week, who can wear down the opposition and move the chains. In the 2023 regular season, AJ Dillon led the team in rushing attempts with 178. Aaron Jones carried the ball 142 times.  

Over his seven years in the league, Jones has been the closest thing to a workhorse. In 2022 he toted the pigskin on 213 plays. His high mark was in 2019 when he had 236 carries. But LaFleur always had to be cautious with overworking the smallish running back because he had been susceptible to injury, as witnessed by his missing six games last fall. AJ Dillon was drafted to be a workhorse kind of back, but he has not been productive enough to be a bell cow. The Packers haven’t been able to move the chains consistently by handing the ball off to Dillon in repeated succession. 

All of that may change in 2024. Enter Josh Jacobs. For the first time in several years, LaFleur has a back that is both productive and durable enough to handle a heavy workload. In his five NFL seasons, Jacobs has averaged 261 carries per year. During his breakout season in 2022 he carried the ball a massive 340 times, rushing for 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns. Even missing four games last season, Jacobs still had 233 carries. He’s that classic bull runner who gets better as the game progresses. He’s the closer.  

The last time Green Bay had a true workhorse was in 2013, when Eddie Lacy rushed the ball 284 times. He followed that up with 246 the next year before slipping into decline. The greatest workhorse in Packer history was probably Ahman Green. From 2000 to 2005 Green averaged 289 attempts per season. That includes his legendary 2003 campaign, when he rewrote the Green Bay record book by rushing a monstrous 355 times for 1,883 yards and 15 touchdowns. 

Being old enough to remember the Vince Lombardi dynasty years, one of my favorite Packers of all time is Jim Taylor. He was the great unsung hero of the sixties championship teams. While players like Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Max McGee, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderly and Dave Robinson got most of the headlines, it was Taylor who hammered the opposition into submission. Between 1960 and 1966, Taylor never finished with less than 204 carries, with a high of 272 in 1962. Keep in mind there were only fourteen games in a season back then. 

At just 26 years old, Josh Jacobs looks like the right guy to re-establish the role of true workhorse for the green and gold. Contrary to popular perception, the workhorse concept is still very much alive and well in the NFL. Running back by committee is a popular term these days, but last fall 23 different running backs had more than 200 attempts.  The leader was Derrick Henry, now with the Ravens, who rushed 280 times for Tennessee. Christian McCaffery with the 49ers and Rachad White with the Bucs were close behind at 272 carries each. 

Jacobs should be more than capable of handling that kind of load. I wouldn’t be alarmed at reports that Jacobs is already nursing a hamstring injury. Most running backs have to deal with minor hamstring issues at some point, because their jobs involve sudden acceleration and change of direction. LaFleur has downplayed Jacobs’ issue, saying he knows everyone will freak out, but he expects the former Alabama star to return soon. 

With Jacobs pounding through the line, and LaFleur’s talent for designing play-action passes off of the run game, Green Bay’s offense should be among the most dynamic in all of football this season. I can’t wait.