By RICH JONES, US DEPUTY SPORTS EDITOR
Published: | Updated:
The NFL has been through more than its fair share of scandal – and the latest Josh Jacobs saga is more proof the league is morally bankrupt.
Jacobs missed the first six games of the season on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property, over an incident with his then-girlfriend that saw him arrested in May.
But just days after being reinstated, the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department released records from their investigation including similar allegations from a further three women who came forward after his arrest.
Jacobs has denied the new allegations, while his lawyers claimed the ‘character assassination’ of the Green Bay running back is ‘unfairly threatening his career.’ They say they have a ‘substantial body of tangible evidence’ to dispute the allegations against him.
But while the saga plays out, Jacobs is still playing. He scored a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in his second game back, celebrating with a handcuff gesture he later insisted was unrelated and a reference to a gospel song.
While the NFL investigates the latest allegations, and he remains innocent until proven guilty, the fact Jacobs is still stepping out onto the field paints both the league and the Packers in a bad light.
Josh Jacobs continues to play for the Green Bay Packers despite new allegations against him
Jacobs celebrated by mimicking being released from handcuffs after a recent touchdown
And it does little to dispel the idea that, ultimately, moral compass flies out the window if a player is deemed useful and valuable on the field.
The league has a long history of players returning after incidents of domestic violence. Examples of moral outrage intervening to end a player’s career are few and far between.
Tyreek Hill, for instance, pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery involving his pregnant girlfriend in 2015, but was still drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs and became a superstar.
Joe Mixon was also welcomed into the league after shocking footage of him punching a woman and breaking bones in her face in a college bar before he was drafted.
Just last week, the Kansas City Chiefs signed kicker Justin Tucker, after serving a ten-game suspension over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving massage therapists the former Ravens star calls ‘unequivocally false.’
These incidents are, sadly, nothing new. Listing those with alleged checkered pasts still suiting up on a weekly basis would be a long and near-impossible task.
But the ongoing Jacobs saga is another high-profile and sorry chapter that undermines the work the league has done to appeal to more female fans.
The NFL has leaned heavily into the ‘Taylor Swift effect’ since 2023. Ever since she appeared at her first Kansas City Chiefs game to support her now-husband Travis Kelce, the league has seen a massive spike in female viewership.
The Kansas City Chiefs signed kicker Justin Tucker last week after a ten-game NFL suspension
Taylor Swift has helped the league’s efforts to massively grow its female fanbase recently
The league has attained its highest female viewership since it started collecting data in 2000. In total, there was an estimated rise of over two million women watching the league in 2023. An Ipsos study found 41 percent of NFL fans are women.
And so what message does it send to those millions of women, to be watching someone facing harrowing accusations of battery?
The league has pursued a ‘helmets off’ approach to content, trying to forge stronger connections with the players themselves and personal storytelling.
Marissa Solis, the senior vice president of global brand and consumer marketing at the NFL, told AP News last year that the NFL has ‘really opened up the aperture of emotional and human-centric storytelling that really attracts our female fans.’
But those efforts are undermined by a league in which its teams continue to turn a blind eye to ugly accusations and criminal charges as long as their player can contribute to winning football games.
Jacobs and the Packers provide the latest example, but they are far from alone.
And as the league continues to chase the riches on offer by building its female audience, its morality remains as bankrupt as ever while so many players with a history of disregard and disrespect towards women remain privileged enough to earn millions by playing on Sundays.
