Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs will return to playing eligibility for the Oct. 25 Week 7 matchup against the Detroit Lions, the NFL announced Oct. 19, notifying him that his placement on the Commissioner Exempt List would be lifted. Jacobs had been on the list since Aug. 30, following misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property, resulting in a six-game absence while the league's inquiry into the matter continues.
A May arrest tied to an altercation between Jacobs, then 28, and a former romantic partner gave rise to the charges. A plea agreement was finalized in September, though the NFL's own review into the matter has yet to conclude.
The league's Oct. 16 statement noted that a Personal Conduct Policy review, opened after Jacobs' arrest in May, remains active and stands apart from any roster decisions. The organization's access to footage of the underlying incident may potentially advance through legal channels, as court bids by Jacobs and his former partner — whose name does not appear in court filings — to restrict that material from disclosure have not succeeded.
Video footage connected to the criminal inquiry into an assault allegation against Jacobs has yet to be turned over to those who have formally requested it from Wisconsin law enforcement. Reports that the league sought access to the footage were first attributed to a source within a prominent television news organisation.
On Oct. 14, both Jacobs and his former girlfriend turned to the courts separately, each seeking an injunction to block the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department from making certain records available to the public. Jacobs is pursuing a court order that would seal the entire case file permanently, whereas his former girlfriend sought narrower restrictions — covering only the garage footage and any details that might reveal her identity.
Lawyers representing Jacobs' former girlfriend have contended that Wisconsin's constitution, amended to include Marsy's Law — a provision extending protections around privacy, personal dignity, and safety to those designated as crime victims — entitles her to keep the evidence sealed.
On Sept. 10, Jacobs entered a no-contest plea to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property before the court. Under the terms of a negotiated plea arrangement, a battery conviction was entered against him, with the court imposing a $1,000 fine alongside associated costs. On the property damage count, Jacobs entered into a deferred judgment arrangement.
Over the following 12 months, a set of obligations — including no further offences, no contact with the victim, supervised oversight, counselling, and repayment to the victim — stands between him and a dismissal of that charge by the state.
Following Jacobs' no-contest plea on Sept. 10, the judge overseeing the proceedings placed the case evidence under a temporary seal. A motion seeking permanent seals on the evidence and discovery materials was lodged in court on Sept. 15 by legal counsel acting on behalf of Jacobs' former girlfriend. Approval of the motion would have cut off the NFL's access to surveillance footage from the location — material the league was relying on as part of its review of Jacobs.
Two procedural steps unfolded in Brown County Court: a proposed sealing order was turned away on Sept. 17 — online court records listed an improper format as the basis — and then, at a hearing held one week later on Sept. 24, the presiding judge removed the temporary seal that had been placed on case materials.
Barring any further setbacks, Jacobs is cleared to take the field when the Packers face Detroit in Week 7. Whether any disciplinary action against Jacobs will follow once the NFL wraps up its review remains an open question.
Any games Jacobs sat out during his time on the Commissioner Exempt List will be factored into the total when the league determines the length of any disciplinary ban. Under the terms of any disciplinary action, the player would forfeit wages collected during his time on the exempt list and go without pay for the full duration of the ban.
Under the labor agreement negotiated between the NFL and its players' union, a domestic violence offense typically carries a six-game ban. Longer bans become possible when the circumstances surrounding an incident are deemed more severe, which is one reason footage review forms a routine part of how the league handles these matters. The duration of any disciplinary suspension may hinge on whether the league presses on without the footage or finds it unrecoverable.
