The allegations against Josh Jacobs are as awful as they are heinous.

Tuesday, the Green Bay Packers running back was booked and arrested in Hobart/Lawrence County, on charges that included domestic battery, strangulation and suffocation, intimidation of a victim, and domestic abuse - criminal damage to property.

Above all else, our thoughts and sympathies here are with the alleged victim, and genuinely hopeful that she is safe and recovering from an incident that has to be among the more traumatizing moments of her life.

Jacobs absolutely deserves his day in court, and along those lines, his attorneys released an aggressive denial of the allegations Tuesday evening.

“Josh vehemently denies the allegations,” attorneys David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld, and Clarence Duchac said in a statement. And this matter is in the early stages of investigation with important evidence that has not yet been made public. We ask for fairness and restraint while the judicial process takes its course.”

In a court of law, Jacobs has the unalienable right to the presumption of innocence, the NFL also has the responsibility to not only launch its own thorough investigation into these allegations but, if found guilty, it is past time that the league finally draw a line in the concrete (forget sand) that domestic violence will not be tolerated.

The unfortunate reality in this league is that far too often, for every Ray Rice indefinite suspension, there is the equivalent of a slap on the wrist that was Rice’s initial two-game suspension, before the league realized it could not outrun the atrocities of what a second video of what happened inside that elevator showed.

For every Howie Roseman, who refuses to even scout players with a domestic violence case on his record, there’s the NFL initially suspending Giants punter Josh Brown for one game after it came to light that he had emotionally and physically abused his wife over the course of several years.

Jacobs’ case offers the NFL the opportunity to learn from past mistakes such as its asinine handling of allegations against Kareem Hunt, when neither he nor the alleged victim were interviewed during the league’s investigation into the incident.

If, and again, this incident still must be heard in a court of law, but if Jacobs is found to have committed the actions he is accused of, it is long past time that the league make an example of the 28-year-old.

Jacobs’ 2022 rushing crown shouldn’t matter, nor should his 28 touchdowns over the past two seasons since signing with the Packers.

If Jacobs committed domestic abuse, he should never wear a Packers uniform again, should never be allowed to step foot onto a football field again, and his name become synonymous with violence against women in a way that echoes Pete Rose’s for violating the once Cardinal sin of betting on baseball.

Jacobs should be a reminder to all 1,696 players across the NFL and every young man with aspirations of playing professional football that there is no place for domestic violence in the sport, let alone society at large.

Justice, though, may be handed down by the court system, but this entire issue has been a glaring blind spot and blight on Roger Goodell’s commissionership in a way that isn’t dissimilar to Paul Tagliabue looking the other way amid mounting evidence of the dangers of concussions and CTE hiding in plain sight within the sport.

No. More.

That must be the message from the NFL, if Jacobs is found guilty, or if a preponderance of evidence of the league’s own investigation can prove what a jury of Jacobs’ peers cannot agree on.

No. More.

There cannot be any more sweeping under the rug, or any more slaps on the wrist, simply because of a player’s value to his team or dominance on the field.

Like it or not, professional sports are a societal leader, and help shape the views and beliefs of a culture. For too long, the NFL has said many of the right things while sheepishly standing idly by as wives, girlfriends, and acquaintances are endangered by the men who score the touchdowns, fill the seats, and line the owners’ pockets.

No. More.

As far as the Packers are concerned — and this isn’t even a secondary issue, but this is a football website, and Jacobs’ potential absence will significantly impact Green Bay’s trajectory on the field, there might not be another position group on the roster that they can least afford to lose a player of Jacobs’ caliber.

The running backs behind Jacobs on the depth chart have combined for 132 NFL carries.

Marshawn Lloyd’s career has been sidetracked by injuries since nearly the moment he stepped onto the practice field at the Don Hutson Center. He’s appeared in only one game.

While Pierre Strong boasts a career five yards per carry average, he’s only logged 99 carries through his first 46 games with the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns.

This isn’t exactly a proven bunch, let alone a backfield head coach Matt LaFleur can build an offense around, nor one that strikes much fear into opposing defensive coordinators.

So, in all likelihood, the Packers are going to have to scour the latter stage free agency and trade market in the weeks ahead to add a proven commodity, in the event that Jacobs is unavailable this season.

Najee Harris may be the best available of a weak bunch of remaining backs, but his game has fallen off a cliff and is a massive question mark, as he works his way back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Week 3 of last season.

Harris, 28, rushed for 1,041 yards with six touchdowns as part of a backfield by committee in Pittsburgh in 2024, but the Steelers were so impressed by how he finished the season that they let him walk out the door.

Another buy-low and boom-or-bust veteran the Packers could target is Austin Ekeler.

Ekeler’s 2025 campaign came to an end when he ruptured his Achilles, at Lambeau Field, in a Week 2 Commanders loss to the Packers.

At this stage of his career, Ekeler’s prowess as a pass catcher out of the backfield could be what makes him the best fit for LaFleur’s offense among the veterans still available as unrestricted free agents.

Antonio Gibson, and his yet untapped potential or Raheem Mostert — as a change of pace complement to the backs already on the Packers’ roster could be names to watch.

However, general manager Brian Gutekunst may be better off exploring the trade market for an upgrade.

The New York Jets could be the ideal trade partner.

After committing $43.5 million over the next three seasons, the Jets have a backlog of running backs, including Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis.

Allen just might be the prototypical Packers back.

The former Wisconsin standout showed some real flashes with the Jets, whlie rushing for 410 yards and three touchdowns through the first 21 games of his career since being chosen in the fourth round of the 2024 draft.

A speedster with elusiveness in the open field, Allen could sit atop the Packers’ depth chart with Brooks and Lloyd rounding out a committee, if the Jets are amenable to a mid-round pick Gutekunst would most likely offer.

There aren’t any easy solutions for the Packers, and if we’re being honest here, how this incident impacts the football field shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list of concerns for anyone other than Gutekunst or anyone inside the front office in Green Bay.