Before Christmas, Josh Jacobs thanked linemen with a gift of bling

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers offensive line has been pushing Josh Jacobs all season.

Before Christmas, Jacobs provided his blockers with diamond-filled necklaces bearing the number of each of the linemen: starters, backups and even practice squad.

“I’ve done a lot of different things in the past, so I wanted to do something different this year,” Jacobs explained Friday, two days before he was set to lead the Packers into a Sunday showdown at the Minnesota Vikings. “We’re a close group and I know a lot of guys were talking about it, like they’d never had one and wanted to buy one, so I just tied it all to Christmas.”

The linemen, to state the obvious, will not present them as an ugly jersey.

“Unreal. It was surreal,” said right guard Sean Rhyan. “That’s my first real broken play. It’s actually fun. Shines really well.”

Bust down?

“All diamonds,” Rhyan explained.

Center Josh Myers is more blue than bling.

“He asked me and said, ‘Man, what do I need to go with this?’ So he tries to carry it, so it becomes dope,” Jacobs said.

Myers might have to run to a jewelry store.

“I have a $10 Amazon chain that I put it on that I wore when I FaceTimed my brothers and stuff, but I haven’t worn it outside the house,” Myers said.

The linemen appreciated Jacobs’ gift, just as Jacobs appreciated left tackle Rasheed Walker, left guard Elgton Jenkins, Myers, Rhyan and right tackle Zach Tom for pushing him past 1,000 rushing yards during his debut season with the team.

“I think it’s special how personally they take that,” Jacobs said. “You can see on every run or even on short passes, all the guys are running and pushing the pile and things like that. I think that’s all mentality. When you have a group of guys who all have the same mentality, that makes guys dangerous; it makes boys scary.

“For me, I like to play with guys who have that grit, that kind of mentality. It was fun.”

Jacobs signed with the Packers in free agency for several reasons: a big contract, the chance to chase a Super Bowl, the chance to play alongside Jordan Love and reunite with Rich Bisaccia.

However, he didn’t know much about his blockers.

‘I’m not going to lie. I didn’t know much about the O-line,” Jacobs said. ‘But I do know they were decent. When I saw Aaron (Jones) and his numbers and stuff like that, obviously I knew they were a solid O-line, but I didn’t know that much about them as people and what they wanted to accomplish in their goals and stuff like that. .

“Being here and being able to go through a full camp and play those first games, you can get a glimpse of what they want to be or who they want to be. When we got halfway through the season, I thought, ‘Okay, it’s kind of set in stone what their mentality is and what their identity is.’ It has been good.”

After blocking for the beloved Jones, it took the linemen some time to get to know their new No. 1 back.

“We knew he was a good back,” Rhyan said, “but once he came in, he stopped acting like no one really acted like he was too big for anyone. And he came to work, and it was fun to watch him do the work.

“Piggybacking with us and seeing him run fast makes us want to block even harder. All the backs run fast, it’s a kind of positive feedback loop, where they help each other get better.

Jacobs enters Sunday’s game against a stout Vikings defense that ranks fourth in the league in rushing. The Packers’ underrated offensive line has made Jacobs look good all season. Now Jacobs has made his linemen look good.

“It’s a reflection of who he is,” Myers said. “He goes above and beyond in everything he does as a teammate, as a leader, as a player on the field, as a friend off the field. Everything. He’s just a good guy, man. …

“He gives us credit. He has been wonderful through it all and has given us love. The way he’s led this team and the way he carries himself every day, man, it’s super impressive.”

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