Silver Minings: Sean Payton preparing for full dose of Josh Jacobs

One of the big questions surrounding the Las Vegas Raider Week 1 matchup against the Denver Broncos is how much the Raiders will lean on running back Josh Jacobs.

Last season, Jacobs led the NFL in total touches with 393, over 23 per game. However, he missed all of training camp after he and the organization couldn’t come to terms on a long-term contract. That’s led many people to believe his workload will be lightened in 2023, at least at the beginning of the campaign as he works to get into playing shape.

But, Broncos head coach Sean Payton doesn’t seem to be in that camp. “Our plan defensively is, ‘Here’s their key players,’ and he’s certainly one of the more dominant running backs in the NFL,” Payton said of Jacobs, via The Athletic. “That’s how we’ll approach the game.”

Last week, Josh McDaniels was asked a similar question and replied:

“We didn’t change our vernacular, our terminology much, so I think just for [Jacobs] in general just getting reacclimated to certain things, in terms of his footwork and seeing certain schemes, etc,” McDaniels explained. “...And I think he’ll acclimate very easily back into the system and what he’s doing, and then we’ll just see how the overall conditioning and readiness to play, how many snaps is that going to be, etc.”

For Las Vegas’ sake, hopefully, the 2022 rushing champ gets a full workload as he averages 103 rushing yards, 4.7 yards per carry and 1.3 rushing touchdowns per game against Denver in his career, according to StatMuse.

In other Raiders links:

• Silver and Black Pride Survivor Contest: follow this link to join our contest for Week 1 and enter for your chance to win $250!
• Raiders open as 4-point underdogs: our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook have the Silver and Black starting as road dogs, and DK has set the totals and money line bets for Sunday as well for those who are interested.
• Marcus Epps opening eyes: “Damn. He got from one side of the field to the other and made a play that we thought was a touchdown,” Jacobs said of Epps via the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
• Jimmy Garoppolo talks Jacobs’ return: “There was a different vibe in the building yesterday when he came back,” Garoppolo said when he joined “NFL Total Access” on Tuesday, per Sports Illustrated.