Josh Jacobs wins PFWA Offensive Rookie of the Year

Capping off an excellent rookie season, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs was named the Pro Football Writers of America Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Jacobs burst onto the scene and made an instant impact for the offense. He finished his first year with 242 attempts for 1,150 yards (4.8 average) and seven rushing touchdowns. As a receiver, he added 20 receptions for 166 yards. What’s remarkable about his season was that all of these numbers came in only 13 games. Jacobs suffered a fractured shoulder in Week 7 versus the Green Bay Packers and played through the pain while still posted some big time numbers.

Without Jacobs in the lineup, the run game was noticeably ineffective. One of his strengths is in short yardage, and his absence played a major role in the offense’s red zone struggles down the stretch.

Pro Football Focus gave Jacobs a final grade of 87.2, which ranked him second among all NFL running backs.

On the other side of the ball, many Raider fans were hoping that fellow rookie Maxx Crosby would be named the defensive rookie of the year after his impressive 10 sack season. Unfortunately, it was Nick Bosa who won the award. Bosa had himself a fine rookie season and is very well deserving of the award.

Where you could argue Crosby got snubbed was not making the All-rookie defensive team. The two defensive ends that were selected were Nick Bosa and Josh Allen.

Jacobs and Crosby were the two standouts of the loaded 2019 rookie class. Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden will be looking to stack another strong class together in 2020 with five picks in the top 100.