GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs says he isn’t worrying about the possibility he may have to miss more games due to the release of allegations that were made against him years before he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend.
“With all the evidence that we have and that they have at this point, it’s not one of those things where I’m sitting back on my hands like, ‘OK, am I going to play this week?’ “ Jacobs said Wednesday. “ It’s like, I kind of already know what it is, so it’s like … it’s really just up to them to make their final decision. But I’m not worried about feeling like I’m going to miss any more time than I already have.”
After spending the first six games of the season on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevented him from playing or practicing, Jacobs has returned to play in the Packers’ last two games. The NFL has said its investigation into Jacobs is ongoing, which means he still could be subject to more discipline from the league.
Jacobs pleaded no contest on Sept. 10 to charges of battery and criminal damage to property. He was arrested May 26 after his then-girlfriend said he had thrown her to the ground three days earlier.
In response to a public records request, the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department released records from their investigation Friday night that included the accounts of three other women who reported similar allegations from years before.
Lawyers representing Jacobs said he has a “substantial body of tangible evidence” disputing the allegations that surfaced in Friday’s records release. They said those allegations are “old, are hearsay and easily disproven.”
“It really feels like an attack on me and who I am and my character,” Jacobs said Wednesday. “And at the end of the day, there’s a lot of stuff being said about me that’s completely false. Like, completely made up. And it’s like people just run with it. And I can’t change that. it’s just one of those thing where it’s like, ‘OK, all I can do is try to be who I am and try not to let the negative moments change who I am.’ And that was the biggest thing for me, throughout this whole process. I didn’t want to go to a place where I felt like I was closed off and I’m angry all the time because of what’s going on in my life.”
Jacobs’ lawyers — David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld and Clarence F. Duchac III — said that one of the three women made a claim to the NFL, which reviewed it and decided no action was warranted. They said Jacobs “has kept evidence that supports his accounts and the NFL’s decision.”
The NFL has declined comment on the lawyers’ statement. After Hobart-Lawrence police released the records that detailed the accounts from the other women, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy had said Saturday that the league would review these allegations as part of its investigation.
Jacobs’ arrest followed a May 23 incident in which police officers came to his Wisconsin home to investigate a disturbance. According to police, a woman told them Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground as she was trying to exit a garage door, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took her 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.
___
