Is Josh Jacobs Holding Out?

Last offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders rolled the dice and opted to not pick up former Crimson Tide star running back Josh Jacobs' fifth-year option on his rookie contract. Jacobs did everything he could to make the Raiders pay dearly for that by leading the NFL in rushing yards with 1,653 yards.

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Combined with his 400 receiving yards, Jacobs accounted for one third of the Raiders' offense. As such, he was in a prime position for a lucrative long-term deal this offseason.

Long-term deals offer more than one year of guarantees. Long-term deals offer security in the face of injury. Long-term deals, put simply, are the only kind of deal most NFL players want to play on, especially a running back that tears his knees up every time he touches the football,

Jacobs seems to agree. According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, he is yet to sign the franchise tag the the Raiders offered him and is not planning to report to the voluntary offseason program today.

The NFL franchise tag is a one-year fully guaranteed deal that pays a player the average of the five largest salaries at his position or 120% of his pay the previous season, whichever is greater. It sounds good, but if a player suffers a major injury during his one-year, $20 million franchise tag year, he will likely never have the chance to make $20 million a year ever again, even if his previous performance earned it for him.

How long Jacobs' apparent holdout lasts will be interesting to follow. So far this offseason, the only franchise tagged player to be signed to a long-term deal is fellow Alabama alumnus Daron Payne.

If Jacobs does not sign a long-term deal with Las Vegas and still refuses to sign the tag, he will not be able to play for anyone else this season and will end up sitting the year out. Le'Veon Bell made that gamble on himself some years ago, and it completely derailed his career.