Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs still has the support of his coach and general manager, who remain optimistic the three-time Pro Bowl selection will come off the commissioner’s exempt list, where he was placed after being charged with two misdemeanors, and play sometime this season.
“There were many conversations obviously and certainly don’t know all the details, but what he tells me, I believe him and I trust him,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday. “I’m going to do that until proven otherwise.”
General manager Brian Gutekunst said he is hopeful the running back will return before the end of the season. “But we’re going to let this process play out, and we’ll be prepared either way,” Gutekunst said.
Gutekunst said he hasn’t seen the video that the Brown County (Wisconsin) District Attorney’s office says it has as evidence corroborating statements made by Jacobs’ girlfriend regarding their May 23 altercation. Jacobs, who was arrested May 26, faces misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property in that incident.
District Attorney David Lasee announced last Thursday that the charges were being filed. Three days later, the NFL put Jacobs on the commissioner’s list, which prevents him from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck.
Upon request and with the club’s permission, Jacobs may be allowed at the club’s facility for meetings, individual workouts, therapy and rehabilitation and other permitted non-football activities.
Jacobs is on the list while the NFL investigates his situation and he could face a suspension by the league. Any games he misses while on the exempt list would count toward his suspension, but he would also have to repay the money he earned while on the exempt list
LaFleur said the Packers were prepared for the possibility Jacobs might get placed on the list.
“I’ve seen this guy,” LaFleur said. “I’ve got a love and care and respect for how he is as a person, who he is as a teammate. Obviously a very unfortunate situation, but one that we have to deal with.”
Jacobs’ lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld, and Clarence F. Duchac III — have noted that the move to the commissioner’s exempt list is an administrative decision made while a matter is under review and “is not a final determination.” They added that Jacobs “looks forward to his return to the team and the NFL.”
Hobart-Lawrence police officers who responded to the May 23 call said Jacobs’ girlfriend told them she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs’ actions.
Police said the woman said she had been looking through Jacobs’ phone and saw he was talking to other women, and that she threw the phone in anger without breaking it. She told police that Jacobs had her phone and she told him he could look through it.
According to police, the woman indicated she tried to retrieve her phone from Jacobs, but he didn’t return it and instead grabbed her arm and began a struggle that lasted several minutes. They then left the home in separate vehicles before eventually returning.
Police said the woman was trying to exit a garage door to get outside when Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took the phone from her while she was on the ground.
According to the criminal complaint filed last week, surveillance footage from the camera system in the garage backed up the woman’s statement.
“We have not seen the video,” Gutekunst said. “Those are legal things going on right now, so we’ll let those play out. … But in the appropriate times, if those things become available, we’ll figure that stuff out when that time comes.”
Reporting by the Associated Press.
