The news of Josh Jacobs’ suspension sent shockwaves through the NFL. A high-profile player being accused of serious crimes has sparked a lot of reaction across the league, and the NFL is taking it seriously by placing Jacobs on the commissioner’s exempt list. While there are bigger concerns than football here, the Packers are without a running back, and that has significant effects on the fantasy prospects of every player in their lineup. Does this news make Jordan Love a must-add in fantasy formats? Let’s break it down.
2026 Fantasy Outlook: Jordan Love
This will be Love’s fourth season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, all under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. In his three seasons under center, Love has finished fifth, 17th, and 15th in fantasy scoring among quarterbacks. And it’s no coincidence that the dropoff in production stems from Josh Jacobs’ arrival.
In the season before Jacobs arrived, Green Bay ranked 22nd in rushing attempts and 15th in pass attempts. LaFleur couldn’t get much production from his Aaron Jones-AJ Dillon running back timeshare, so he was forced to lean on Love in what was essentially his rookie season. That resulted in Love throwing for over 4,000 yards with 32 touchdowns through the air and four on the ground, along with 247 total rushing yards. He was a rock-solid fantasy QB1.
During the first year of Jacobs’ tenure with the Packers, Green Bay jumped up to fifth in total rushing attempts, while plummeting to 30th in pass attempts. Now that LaFleur had his bell cow, the Packers could lean on the run, and Love took a backseat. He finished a respectable 17th out of all quarterbacks despite missing two games, largely due to strong passing TD production and overall efficiency. That stayed true in 2025, when Green Bay was seventh in rush attempts and 27th in pass attempts. Once again, Love produced low passing totals, relying on touchdowns and efficiency.
Curiously, Jacobs’ arrival seems to take a lot of value away from Love’s rushing. During his first season as a starter, Love scrambled 50 times for 247 yards and four scores, good for 48.7 fantasy points. In the two years since, Love has scrambled 72 times for 282 yards and just one score. That’s a meager 19.1 fantasy points per season as a rusher. While Love’s lack of scrambling over the last two years may be a question of opportunity, there’s no denying the drop in efficiency, and LaFleur may not want his franchise quarterback putting his body on the line unnecessarily.
Ultimately, I don’t see Love being any different from a fantasy perspective without Jacobs, largely because of the potentially dire state of the Green Bay backfield. MarShawn Lloyd, who has missed 33 of 34 NFL games and has six carries to his name, leads the depth chart. Chris Brooks is the current backup and has limited experience as a change-of-pace option. And the third stringer is Kaleb Johnson, a Steelers third-round pick in 2025 who didn’t survive his second training camp with Pittsburgh. Perhaps LaFleur and their offensive line can cobble together a good rushing attack. Still, there is a very real possibility that Green Bay wields one of the most toothless rushing attacks in the league as long as Jacobs is sidelined.
There is near certainty that Love’s passing attempts will increase, both because of the game plan and the game script. But that will almost certainly come with a drop in efficiency. He has been elite in the touchdown-to-turnover game in the past few seasons, and it will be a hard ratio to maintain if the offense leans on him first and foremost. The week-to-week volatility has certainly increased, but Love’s standing as a low-end QB1 hasn’t changed; he’s still the kind of quarterback you want to pair with another to play the matchups.
