Packers Coach Matt LaFleur Says He 'Fully' Expects Josh Jacobs to Stay on Team After Misdemeanor Charges Filed

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs is staying on the roster while misdemeanor charges against him work through court, head coach Matt LaFleur said Friday night, August 28, after the Packers closed the preseason with a 42-38 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

"I fully anticipate him being a member of our team," LaFleur said, according to the Associated Press. "I think you've got to let everything play out, but I anticipate him being a member of our football team."

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee filed the charges Thursday, August 27: misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Both are Class A misdemeanors under Wisconsin law.

The case traces back to May. According to the criminal complaint cited by NFL.com, the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department responded to a disturbance at Jacobs' home on the morning of May 23. Police said Jacobs' girlfriend told them she found messages between Jacobs and other women while looking through his phone, threw her own phone in anger, and that Jacobs then took her phone and refused to give it back. A struggle followed that police say lasted several minutes. The woman told police she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs' actions. The New York Post reported that a prosecutor said the alleged incident was captured on surveillance footage.

Jacobs was arrested May 26 and released from Brown County jail the next day. NFL.com reported he was initially arrested on five charges, including a felony count of strangulation and suffocation, plus battery, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and intimidation of a victim. Only the two misdemeanor counts were ultimately filed.

In his statement announcing the charges, Lasee said his office "sought to ensure a fair and complete review of available evidence, some of which only recently became available to our office due to significant, ongoing forensic efforts by law enforcement." He also stressed that "a criminal complaint is nothing more than a written, formal accusation against a defendant alleging the commission of criminal offenses and does not raise any inference of guilt," and that Jacobs "is presumed innocent of these charges."

Jacobs' attorneys, David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III, said in a statement that the charges filed "do not include domestic violence" and that "the allegations will be addressed in court, and not in the media." Jacobs has denied the allegations, according to WISN. His arrest in May was described in police records as part of a domestic violence investigation, a characterization that sits alongside his lawyers' framing of the final charges. Jacobs is due back in court November 17.

Some will reasonably ask whether an active NFL roster spot is the right call for a player whose girlfriend told police she suffered a head injury during a physical struggle that was allegedly caught on camera, especially given the original arrest included a felony strangulation count. The record so far shows prosecutors reviewed the evidence and chose not to file a felony or a domestic-violence-specific charge. Jacobs has not been convicted of anything, and the case hasn't gone to trial. The DA's own statement warns against treating a complaint as proof of guilt.

The NFL has said it's monitoring the case and could place Jacobs on the Commissioner's Exempt list, which would let the team pay him while he's barred from team activities. NBC Sports reported that because Jacobs' accuser is his girlfriend, the league may follow its typical domestic-violence protocol: paid leave during the legal process, followed by a six-game suspension if a finding goes against him. Forbes reported the NFL could act before the 2026 season starts or wait until the criminal case concludes.

Jacobs sat out Friday's preseason finale, but so did most Packers starters as the team managed injury risk heading into the regular season. He's been with the team through training camp, limited at times by a groin injury, and returned to organized team activities less than a week after his arrest, according to NFL.com.

On the field, Jacobs has been Green Bay's workhorse. He ran for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns on 234 carries last season, tying fullback Jim Taylor as the only Packer to post 13-plus rushing touchdowns in back-to-back seasons. He's second in the NFL in rushing yards (7,803) and rushing touchdowns (74) since entering the league in 2019. Behind him on the depth chart sit MarShawn Lloyd, a 2024 third-round pick limited to one game over the past two seasons by injury, Pierre Strong Jr., who spent last season on the practice squad, and Chris Brooks, primarily a special-teamer.

Asked directly whether Jacobs will be available when Green Bay opens the season at Minnesota on September 13, LaFleur gave no assurance. "I can't really comment on that," he said, "because I don't know." Whether the NFL moves to sideline Jacobs before that game, or lets him play while the league's own review continues, remains an open question.