The Green Bay Packers will enter training camp with a void to fill in the backfield. Emanuel Wilson, who rushed for almost 1,000 yards the last two seasons, le
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs had a subpar season in 2025. They need him to bounce back. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectEmanuel Wilson, who rushed for almost 1,000 yards the last two seasons, left in free agency.
So, while Josh Jacobs will return as RB1, the rest of the pecking order will be determined on the practice field and during the preseason. Jacobs went from 1,329 rushing yards, a 4.4-yard average and 15 touchdowns in 17 games in 2024 to 929 rushing yards, a 4.0-yard average and 13 touchdowns in 15 games last season. He also went from 9.5 yards per catch to 7.8.
Beyond the raw numbers, Stathead has Jacobs going from 2.4 yards after contact per carry with 35 missed tackles to 2.0 yards after contact with 16 missed tackles. After spending his rookie season with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2023, Brooks spent the last two seasons with the Packers. Mostly, he pass protected on third down, served as the team’s unofficial fullback and was a standout on special teams.
Without Wilson, Brooks will be in position to be the team’s No. 2 back. He’s carried the ball 82 times in three seasons with a 4.8-yard average. Green Bay Packers Kyle McCord hands off the ball to Chris Brooks during minicamp. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectIn 2024, the Packers signed Jacobs in free agency and drafted Lloyd in the third round.
The Packers envisioned a two-headed monster. Instead, he’s spent most of his first two seasons riding an exercise bike to stay in shape. He played 10 snaps in Week 2 of his rookie season and not again. Strong was a fourth-round pick by the Patriots in 2022.
He played one season for New England and two for Cleveland, with 5.0 yards per carry and 7.4 yards per reception. The Browns released him at the end of camp last year and he spent the season on Green Bay’s practice squad. He was elevated three times but didn’t play in a game.
Martinez was a seventh-round pick by the Seahawks in 2025 after rushing for 3,169 yards and a robust 6.2-yard average in three consistent seasons at Oregon State and Miami. He spent a couple of weeks on their practice squad before signing a futures contract with the Packers in January. Nixon went undrafted out of Central Florida, where he averaged 7.8 yards per carry as a senior.
For his career, he rushed for 21 touchdowns, caught four touchdown passes and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. Josh Jacobs, of course, will be the starter. But he can’t go it alone. Emanuel Wilson had 254 touches the last two seasons, including 114 in 2024, when Jacobs started every game.
That makes the No. 2 back the big battle at this position group. In a perfect world, MarShawn Lloyd would take the ball and run away with the job. That’s why he was a third-round pick in 2024, after all. Health issues got in the way the last two years, and there’s no guarantee they won’t derail him again.
If that’s the case, then what? Brooks in three seasons has carried the ball 82 times and caught 26 passes. He’s gotten the ball 10-plus times in a game only once, which was Week 18 of last season when Jacobs and most of the other starters got the day off. Damien Martinez, who was a quality power back in college, and Pierre Strong, who would bring an explosive element to the backfield, didn’t get on the field last year.
Rookie Jaden Nixon surpassed 88 touches only once in five college seasons. Wilson came from humble beginnings to be a productive backup, so this doesn’t have to be a Lloyd-or-bust proposition. Setting aside the question of whether he’ll be healthy at all, what can Lloyd give to the offense if he is healthy? Lloyd has seven touches in his NFL career.
Moreover, it’s not as if he’s strung together week after week of practice to give the coaching staff a good feel for what he can do. Ball security, for instance, was a big concern coming out of the USCs – South Carolina and Southern Cal. According to Pro Football Focus, Lloyd had 289 carries in three college seasons. He fumbled on eight.
Plus, he caught 34 passes with six drops. However, it’s easy to see why the Packers have waited . During his final college season, he averaged 7.1 yards per carry. For his career, he averaged 13.1 yards per catch.
That explosive element would be a huge addition. Last year, Jacobs and Wilson combined for 11 runs of 15-plus yards. A baker’s dozen running backs had more. Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs runs the ball against New York Giants defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris.
| IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect There are reasons for Josh Jacobs’ statistical decline last season. The knee injury sustained in a November win at the Giants certainly didn’t help. The play of the revolving-door offensive line was an issue, too. The per-carry averages for Jacobs, Wilson and Brooks all fell last season, which tells you what you need to know.
However, Jacobs is 28. In seven seasons, he has 2,109 touches. That’s 300 per season. He’s second among active running backs with 1,840 rushing attempts.
That’s a lot of hits for a player who fights for every inch on practically every carry. At some point, the cumulative effect has to impact a runner’s production. The depth chart is a giant question mark. The Packers drafted Lloyd to provide a one-two punch with Jacobs.
Maybe, belatedly, that will finally happen this year. What’s unquestioned is Packers coach Matt LaFleur wants to build his offense through the running game. If Jacobs is not on the field, there might not be a running game. It could be a one-two punch that would doom the offense.
Our Packers training camp position previews start with the quarterbacks, including the depth chart, the big question, the big battle and the doomsday scenario. Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995.
He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com.
In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.
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