News & Analysis · News · Covers Oct 24–25, 2026
Josh Jacobs draws seven targets in his return: his Week 8 outlook
Josh Jacobs took 11 of Green Bay's 19 carries in his first game back and drew 7 targets, more than twice his 2025 rate. He projects as a clear start over a typical bench option for Week 8.
By Swindlr · · Sources & methodology
The short answer
Josh Jacobs led the backfield in his first game back (week 7, a 20-17 loss at the Lions): 11 of the Packers' 19 carries (58%) and 7 of their 42 targets (17%). His receiving role was the change: 7 targets against 2.9 a game in 2025, while his 11 carries were below his 15.6. MarShawn Lloyd went from 7.3 carries and 2.8 targets a game without him to 6 and 2, with no injury designation for week 7. It's one game, and Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson didn't play in it.
Sleeper's Week 8 projection (as of Oct 28, 5:36 p.m. ET) has Josh Jacobs at RB12 in PPR (16.0 points), RB12 in half PPR (14.8) and RB11 in standard (13.6), well inside the illustrative 12-team starter line (RB24): against the best of the backs outside it, a projection gap that size has gone the higher one's way 75% of the time in each scoring. Over a typical bench option, that's a clear start. Sleeper projects 2.4 catches for him this week, though, so the scoring barely changes his standing.
Opens Who should I start? with him in, on current projections: add the players you're choosing between and set your scoring.
What happened
The Packers activated Josh Jacobs from the exempt list on Oct 24, according to ESPN's NFL transactions list. He'd missed all 6 of the Packers' games before that.
The game: week 7, a 20-17 loss at the Lions. Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson, who'd had 13.0 and 5.8 carries and targets a game before, didn't play in week 7.
Green Bay's backfield, before and after
| Player | Carries before | Carries since | Targets before | Targets since | Week 7 report | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Jacobs | — | 11 (58%) | — | 7 (17%) | none | active |
| MarShawn Lloyd | 7.3 (34%) | 6 (32%) | 2.8 (7%) | 2 (5%) | none | active |
| Pierre Strong Jr. | 8.0 (31%) | — | 5.0 (14%) | — | none | active |
| Kaleb Johnson | 5.0 (23%) | — | 0.8 (2%) | — | none | out for week 8 |
| Packers total | 21.5 | 19 | 38.0 | 42 |
From each week's box score, counted in the games each player played (a dash: he didn't play); in brackets, his share of the team's carries or targets in those games. Week 7 report: the NFL's game-status report for that game. Now: Sleeper's injury data, Oct 28.
Week 8 projections
| Player | PPR | Half PPR | Standard | Projected catches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Jacobs | 16.0 · RB12 | 14.8 · RB12 | 13.6 · RB11 | 2.4 |
| MarShawn Lloyd | 6.7 · RB42 | 6.1 · RB41 | 5.6 · RB37 | 1.1 |
Projected catches are PPR minus standard, as shown. The starter line is illustrative, the top 24 backs, 30 receivers and 12 tight ends: where your league's falls depends on its lineup and how its flex spots get used. [See current projections for Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd](/nfl/roster/start?p=5850,11581&ppr=1).
Swindlr's injury data has Josh Jacobs active, and Sleeper's Week 8 projection has him playing.
What could change this
- Pierre Strong Jr. and Kaleb Johnson didn't play in week 7; their return could take back some of the work.
Next step: Compare Josh Jacobs with your options →
Sources & methodology
Automatically generated analysis using the sources and data listed below. Not individually reviewed by a human.
- Green Bay Packers transactions: Activated RB Josh Jacobs from exempt status. · ESPN NFL transactions, Oct 24, 2026 · retrieved Oct 28, 2026, 5:36 p.m. ET
- NFL game-status injury reports, 2026 · NFL injury report (nflverse) · retrieved Oct 28, 2026, 5:36 p.m. ET
Covers Oct 24–25, 2026. Data as of Oct 28, 2026, 5:36 p.m. ET.
How this was put together
The move is as ESPN's NFL transactions list reports it. Carries and targets come from each week's box score in Swindlr's data (nflverse), counted in the games each player played; the result from the NFL schedule; a game's injury status from the NFL's game-status report for that week (nflverse's copy), and a current one from Sleeper's injury data, kept apart. Projections are Sleeper's week 8 lines as of Oct 28, 5:36 p.m. ET, scored by Swindlr in PPR, half PPR and standard and ranked among players expected to play. How close a call is comes from how often a projection gap that size went the higher projection's way in 2025, on a curve fitted separately for each scoring (the calibration behind Who should I start?). The starter line is an illustrative cutoff, not a lineup rule. Written once the first game after the move was in the data.
The numbers are worked out before any sentence is written, and the text states only those numbers and the sources' facts. No one was interviewed or quoted.
- Updated Oct 28, 2026: Rewritten with a short answer before the evidence and conclusions drawn from this piece's own numbers; projections refreshed to the latest.
- Updated Oct 28, 2026: Revised after review: injury statuses dated to the game they describe, the move attributed to ESPN's transactions list, chances on a curve fitted for each scoring, half PPR added, an illustrative starter line, and a shorter headline; projections refreshed.