The Packers are keeping Josh Jacobs as the legal process plays out.
Jacobs was charged this week with misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property stemming from an incident with his girlfriend in May.
The NFL is investigating the matter and could put Jacobs on the Commissioner’s Exempt list.
He is not due in court until Nov. 17.
“I fully anticipate him being a member of our team,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said.
Jacobs averaged four yards per carry and scored 13 touchdowns on the ground for the Packers last season.
It’s a major drop-off to backup MarShawn Lloyd (six career carries) for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Jacobs sat out Friday night’s preseason finale but so did most of the Packers starters as a way of avoiding injury risk.
Are the Packers expecting Jacobs to be available to play Week 1?
“I can’t really comment on that,” LaFleur said, “because I don’t know.”
Jacobs allegedly grabbed his girlfriend and threw her to the ground and she struck her head during an incident at Jacobs’ Wisconsin home.
She had a lump on her head, police said.
The alleged attack was captured by surveillance footage, per a prosecutor.
“Our 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,” Brown County District Attorney David L. Lasee said in a statement.
“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. Mr. Jacobs is presumed innocent of these charges. As this is an ongoing criminal case, and out of respect for the rights of all parties, our office will not have further comment on the matter at this time.”
Representing Jacobs, attorneys David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac III issued a statement acknowledging the charges but pointing out that they “do not include domestic violence.”
