If you had the foresight to draft Josh Jacobs in your fantasy leagues last year, it’s very likely that you are now the proud owner of your league’s championship trophy. Jacobs was routinely falling to the fifth or sixth round of fantasy drafts, but he ended up being the NFL’s leading rusher and totaled over 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
That dominant season by Jacobs led to the Raiders using the franchise tag on him, which is why he has yet to report to camp. Jacobs is now a much higher pick than he was a year ago, but is now the time to avoid him in your drafts?
In a recent article by Bleacher Report, they named a handful of players who could wind up being busts in your fantasy football leagues based on their ADP. Jacobs was one of the names listed due to his potential holdout. Here is a snippet of why the site believes you should avoid Jacobs in your drafts:
A lengthy holdout isn’t good for anyone involved from a production standpoint, and that includes fantasy managers. Melvin Gordon was the last back to have a holdout that went through training camp.
Gordon’s 2019 holdout went four games into the season. Once he came back to the field for the Los Angeles Chargers, he ended up averaging just 3.7 yards per carry with 612 yards in 11 games.
If Jacobs decides to press the issue, managers run the risk that he’s going to need time to work back into in-season condition and reacclimate to the offense. It’s best to let someone else take on that kind of risk.
Depending on the site, Jacobs is being selected anywhere from the top of the second round to the end of the third round. In this article, the site used the average draft position from Fantasy Football Calculator, where Jacobs is being selected at pick No. 14 (on average).
That does feel a tad high for Jacobs, especially with wide receivers like CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, and Amon-Ra St. Brown being selected behind him. But as long as Jacobs is on the field, he is one of the most reliable running backs in the league.
Expect the holdout from Jacobs to continue to hurt his ADP, which will only improve his value as we get through the summer. If you can select him anytime after the first two rounds of your draft, Jacobs will be one of the steals of your league once again.