The Green Bay Packers are still dealing with a cloudy situation surrounding running back Josh Jacobs, who remains on the NFL Commissioner’s Exempt List. The league has given no indication of when, or if, it will suspend him. In the meantime, the Packers can’t count on their Pro Bowl running back. Jacobs can’t practice or play, but he is still collecting his full salary. That makes this a worst-case scenario for Green Bay.

After the 31-7 win over the Chicago Bears, head coach Matt LaFleur was asked whether he had any update on Jacobs’ status with the league. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise that LaFleur kept it short.

“I’ve got no updates there,” LaFleur said.

Jacobs was arrested May 26 in connection with an incident involving his ex-girlfriend that occurred May 23. He has already resolved his criminal case, pleading no contest to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property. The plea means Jacobs agreed to resolve the case without fighting the charges, even though he did not formally admit guilt.

How the exempt list affects a suspension

In mid-September, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler reported that Jacobs could face a four- to six-game suspension from the NFL stemming from his misdemeanor case. However, when the Packers face the Dallas Cowboys on “Sunday Night Football” this upcoming weekend, Jacobs will miss his sixth game on the exempt list. If the league lands on six games, he will have already missed that many.

Any games Jacobs misses on the exempt list would count toward an eventual suspension. Here is a hypothetical: Jacobs sits out against the Cowboys while still on the list, and the NFL suspends him for eight games the following week. In that scenario, he would only have to serve two more games before returning to the Packers.

The financial side

Right now, Jacobs is making his full base salary. If the league suspends him for a set number of games, he would have to return the game checks for those weeks to Green Bay.

Jacobs makes $10.2 million in base salary for the 2026 season, which works out to $566,000 per game. Under an eight-game suspension, for instance, he would have to pay back $4.53 million, and that money would be credited back to the Packers’ salary cap eventually.

Jacobs also has a $700,000 per-game roster bonus, which comes out to $41,765 for every game he is active. Because he isn’t technically active, Green Bay doesn’t owe him that bonus. With five games already missed, the Packers have kept more than $200,000 that will eventually be credited back to their cap.

Jacobs signed a four-year, $48 million contract with Green Bay in 2024, and the deal runs through 2027. He was set to make $11.5 million this year, a figure that includes the per-game roster bonuses he isn’t earning. Next season, he is slated to make $13.5 million. The Packers have no guaranteed money left to pay him, since the only guaranteed portion of the original deal was the $12.5 million signing bonus they paid in 2024.

Why the league could still be waiting

The biggest problem for Green Bay is that nobody knows exactly what happens next. Brown County District Court Judge Mark A. Hammer recently denied a request by the victim to have evidence permanently sealed. Instead, he turned the matter over to the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department, which conducted the criminal investigation.

That opens up a possible explanation for the delay, though there isn’t any type of report confirming that scenario. The NFL may theoretically want to see the video evidence before making a decision, while Jacobs and the victim don’t want the video released, and the police department may not be granting the league access. If the NFL suspends Jacobs and the video surfaces afterward, the league would not be able to add to his suspension.

Until the NFL acts, the Packers are stuck paying a running back they can’t use, with no clear timeline for when the situation will finally be resolved.