Josh Jacobs, a running back for the Green Bay Packers, was placed on the commissioner's exempt list on Aug. 30 following two misdemeanor charges — battery and criminal damage to property. The NFL announced on Oct. 19 that his removal from that list would take effect, making him available for the Packers' Week 7 matchup against the Detroit Lions on Oct. 25 after sitting out six games, with the league's inquiry into the matter still open.
The charges arose from a May arrest tied to an altercation between Jacobs, then 28 years old, and a former girlfriend. A plea agreement was reached by Jacobs in September, while the NFL's review of the matter continues separately.
The NFL opened a Personal Conduct Policy inquiry following the May arrest. An Oct. 16 statement from the league described that process as continuing and unaffected by any change to Jacobs' roster standing. The delay in resolving the exempt-list designation is attributed in part to the league's interest in reviewing footage connected to the arrest.
Separate court efforts by Jacobs and his former partner — whose name does not appear in court filings — to restrict access to that evidence have not yet succeeded, leaving open a path for the league to pursue the footage through legal channels. Video footage connected to the criminal case over the domestic assault allegation has yet to be turned over by Wisconsin law enforcement to those who have formally requested it.
On Oct. 14, separate court injunctions were lodged by Jacobs and his former girlfriend, each seeking to block the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department from making departmental records available to the public.
On Sept. 10, Jacobs entered a no-contest plea to misdemeanor battery and criminal damage to property before the court. Under the negotiated plea arrangement, a guilty finding was entered on the battery count and Jacobs was directed to pay a fine of $1,000 alongside applicable court costs. On the criminal damage to property count, a deferred judgment arrangement was entered into by Jacobs.
Over the following 12 months, a set of court-imposed terms — barring any new offences, prohibiting contact with the victim, requiring supervision, counselling, and repayment to that person — 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 sealing of evidence and discovery materials was lodged on behalf of Jacobs' former girlfriend by her legal team on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Approval of the motion would have ended the NFL's access to surveillance footage from the location — video that sat at the centre of its inquiry into Jacobs. A request for access to that video had been covered by one outlet's own journalist before the story circulated more widely.
Two procedural rulings shaped the court record in quick succession. A Brown County Court judge turned away the proposed sealing order on Sept. 17 — online filings noted a formatting problem with the submission. At a follow-up appearance one week later on Sept. 24, that same judge lifted the temporary seal that had been placed on case documents.
On Oct. 14, court documents filed separately by Jacobs and a woman he had previously been in a relationship with arrived at the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department, each requesting a legal order to prevent officers from releasing the footage to the public. Jacobs is seeking a court order that would keep every case record permanently under seal, whereas his former partner has asked only that the garage footage and any details capable of identifying her be restricted from public view.
Attorneys representing Jacobs' former girlfriend have contended that her entitlement to keep certain evidence sealed flows from Marsy's Law — a constitutional amendment adopted in Wisconsin that extends protections around privacy, dignity, and safety to those deemed victims of a crime.
Jacobs is scheduled to take the field when the Packers face Detroit in Week 7. Whether any disciplinary action from the NFL against Jacobs will follow once the investigation concludes remains an open question. Any games he sat out during his time on the commissioner's exempt list are to be factored into the total when the league calculates the length of any disciplinary ban it ultimately hands down.
Under the terms under discussion, any wages collected during the exempt-list period would be subject to repayment, with no compensation flowing to the player for the duration of a suspension. Under the labor agreement negotiated between the NFL and its players' union, a domestic violence offense typically carries a six-game ban.
Footage from incidents tends to factor into how long a ban ultimately runs, given that harsher penalties are tied to what that review uncovers. Whether the footage remains unavailable or the league proceeds without it, the duration of any potential disciplinary ban may be shaped by that gap in evidence.
