Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs is facing misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property stemming from what police described as a physical confrontation with his girlfriend.
Jacobs was arrested May 26 after police were called to his home to investigate a disturbance and was released from jail the next day. The charges were announced Thursday by Brown County District Attorney David Lasee.
“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,” 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.”
Jacobs’ lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III — issued a statement acknowledging the charges, noting they “do not include domestic violence.”
“The allegations will be addressed in court, and not in the media,” they said. “Mr. Jacobs respects the District Attorney’s office and the process it followed.”
Jacobs was back on the field with the Packers for organized team activities less than a week after the arrest and has been with the team for training camp, though he’s been limited by a groin injury.
Jacobs was initially arrested on five criminal charges, including a felony count of strangulation and suffocation as well as battery, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and intimidation of a victim. The only charges filed Thursday involved the misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct.
Incident started with dispute over phone
According to the criminal complaint, the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department responded to a report of a disturbance involving a man and a woman on the morning of May 23. Police said Jacobs’ girlfriend told them she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs’ actions.
Police said the woman said she had been looking through Jacobs’ phone and saw he was talking to other women and that she threw the phone in anger without breaking it.
She told police that Jacobs had her phone and that she told him he could look through it.
Police said the woman indicated she tried to retrieve her phone from Jacobs, but he didn’t return it and instead grabbed her arm and began a struggle that lasted several minutes.
Police said the two of them then left in separate vehicles, with the woman following Jacobs to try to get her phone back.
They eventually returned to the home, and the woman said she was going to call police to get her phone back. Police said Jacobs called the woman a derogatory name and said he would “do something to her” as she grabbed a second phone from a duffel bag.
According to police, the woman was trying to exit a garage door to get outside when Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took the phone from her while she was on the ground.
Police said they noticed redness on her face and neck and could feel a bump on the back of her head. According to police, the woman said Jacobs hadn’t returned her primary phone, and that her second phone was damaged as a result of the incident.
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance footage from the camera system in the garage corroborated the woman’s statement.
The maximum possible sentence for each of the two charges filed against Jacobs includes nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
A Packers spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Thursday. The NFL said it is monitoring the case.
Loss of Jacobs would challenge Packers
Jacobs rushed for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. That followed a 2024 season in which Jacobs ran for 1,329 yards and 15 touchdowns while earning his third Pro Bowl selection.
The 28-year-old has rushed for 7,803 yards and 74 touchdowns in his seven-year career, which included five seasons with the Raiders. He earned All-Pro honors and had an NFL-leading 1,653 yards rushing with Las Vegas in 2022.
Running back is a position in which the Packers don’t have much depth.
Injuries have caused 2024 third-round draft pick MarShawn Lloyd to play just one game over the past two seasons, though he has been healthy throughout training camp. Pierre Strong Jr. spent last season on Green Bay’s practice squad but has 499 career yards rushing with the New England Patriots (2022) and Cleveland Browns (2023-24). Chris Brooks ran for 106 yards on 27 carries last season while contributing primarily on special teams.
During a news conference Wednesday, Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked if the Packers would need to add another running back in the event Jacobs faced charges and got suspended.
“Yeah, I’m pretty confident we can sustain it, but it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t do that,” Gutekunst said about adding a player. “We’ll deal with that when that comes, but we’ve obviously prepared for that in case that happens. But at the same time, I feel really good about the guys we’ve got in that room, and I think we can survive that.”
