Josh Jacobs is coming off the worst season of his NFL career in which he missed four games for the Las Vegas Raiders and rushed for a career-low 805 yards. Josh Jacobs has rebounded greatly in his first year with the Green Bay Packers.

In the same 13 games he played a season ago, the sixth-year veteran has broken the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth time, rushing for 1,053 yards and averaging a solid 4.4 yards per carry with 11 touchdowns achieved, seven of which came in the last three weeks.

Jacobs also added 260 yards on 27 receptions and even scored the first receiving touchdown of his career in Green Bay’s 24-22 win over the Houston Texans in Week 7.

So he once again had a solid first season in a Packers uniform. And if he can maintain or even improve his performance over the final four weeks of the regular season, Jacobs will join two Packers in an exclusive club.

Since the NFL was founded in 1920, only one Green Bay Packers player has led the league in rushing yards. That honor goes to the legendary Jim Taylor, who ran for a career-best 1,474 yards on his way to becoming NFL MVP in 1962.

Green Bay also won its second straight NFL championship and eighth overall this season.

No Green Bay back has won the rushing title since. And since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only two Packers have ever finished in the top three.

In 1971, John Brockington ran for 1,105 yards en route to being named Offensive Rookie of the Year, trailing only Floyd Little, who ran for 1,133 yards for the Denver Broncos. Brockington also finished second in 1973, but it was a distant second as OJ Simpson recorded the first 2,000-yard season in NFL history, running for 2,003 yards with the Buffalo Bills to secure MVP honors.

In 2003, Ahman Green set the Packers’ single-season rushing record with 1,883 yards, but still finished second to Jamal Lewis, who amassed 2,066 yards on the ground for the Baltimore Ravens.

And that’s it.

Heading into Green Bay’s Week 15 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Jacobs had the fourth-most rushing yards this season, trailing only Saquon Barkley (1,623) of the Philadelphia Eagles, Derrick Henry (1,407) of the Baltimore Ravens and Kyren Williams (1,121). ). ) of the Los Angeles Rams.

Of course, it’s worth noting that Williams has already played his Week 15 game, rushing for 108 yards in the Rams’ 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night.

Jacobs can’t catch Barkley or Henry, so he’ll be battling Williams for third down the stretch, and Jahmyr Gibbs (1,016) of the Detroit Lions and Chuba Hubbard (1,011) are also in the mix.

However, Jacobs currently has the highest average among these four defenders at 81.0 yards per game, with Williams at 80.1, Gibbs at 78.2 and Hubbard at 77.8.

So if things stay that way over the next four weeks, Jacobs will join Brockington and Green in the Packers’ exclusive club and finish in the top three in rushing.

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