This was originally published as the cover story for the 2025 Packers Yearbook. To get your copy, click here.
Back in March of 2024, on the verge of their free agent contracts with the Packers becoming official, Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney sat down for a dinner they'll never forget.
It was in a private room on an upper floor of Lodge Kohler, the luxury hotel across the street from Lambeau Field. Jacobs and McKinney both had family members with them, getting to know various Packers coaches at the table, as well as a new teammate – in this case an old teammate of Jacobs' with the Raiders – Keisean Nixon.
Jacobs and McKinney, the running back and safety who were former college teammates at Alabama, hadn't seen each other for a while, so there was plenty of catching up to do. But the focus of the evening was more on the future, and after dinner, they hopped in Nixon's car to get shown around Green Bay.
When the mini-tour ended, the three veteran players didn't get out of the car right away. Instead, they sat and talked, right there in the hotel parking lot. In what Jacobs has referred to as a "surreal" moment, they discussed what this all might mean.
"Kei was like, 'Man, it's different here. You're all going to see it. You're not coming into a losing organization. You're coming into a team that has culture, that's used to winning, and it's just trying to get over the hump right now,'" recalled Jacobs, which was music to the ears of two players with just one playoff appearance apiece in a combined nine seasons in the NFL to that point.
"So I'm telling X, 'Man, it starts with me and you. We've got to be the ones to lead. You on that side (of the ball), me on this side. We've got to be the ones to set the tone.'"
Their mindset immediately centered on what they could bring to the Packers' culture, more specifically what they could add to it. Nixon confirmed for them they were in the right place, but it wasn't in their nature to just show up and play. They had bigger ideas.
"We wanted to leave our brand of football on the Packers," Jacobs said. "We already knew they had a good team. We were additions to the team, but we wanted to set a standard so high that it's not hard to see what it is, and it's hard for the guys not to be like, 'OK, if that's what greatness looks like, I'm chasing that.'"
McKinney smiles at the recollection.
"I'll always have that memory in my head," he said. "I remember all that stuff vividly."
Nobody can rush through the timeline from newcomer to leader in a professional locker room. There's a process. The last thing Jacobs and McKinney wanted to do was step on anyone's toes.
Leadership-wise, the offense already had quarterback Jordan Love and offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins, while the defense had pass rushers Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary, among others.
So step one was to be seen more than heard.
"Probably the first month I didn't talk at all," Jacobs said of the 2024 offseason. "It wasn't because I was afraid to talk, but it was just more so like I wanted to feel the energy and read the vibes and take a step back and take it all in, and understand where I fit in."
Jacobs already commanded a certain level of respect, as a 2019 first-round pick and the 2022 NFL rushing champ with All-Pro credentials. During this initial quiet period he had players coming up to him expressing how excited they were that he joined the squad. Jacobs used those moments as opportunities to get to know his new teammates, and for them to get to know him, beyond his stats.
For McKinney, it was a little different. Not that his new mates weren't pumped up to have him as well, but he hadn't been named All-Pro or a Pro Bowler, while two players he was with every day in the Packers' secondary, Jaire Alexander and Nixon (as a returner), already had.
"I hadn't hit that yet," said McKinney, a second-round pick of the Giants, with whom he spent four years. "So from my mindset, it's like 'OK, I'm still trying to get where y'all are.' I understood that coming in, and I tried to come in here with the utmost respect toward them and everybody around me, but at the same time, I'm still here to work and I'm still going to challenge y'all, because we're here to challenge each other."
Both had mandates beyond the expectations that come with big-money contracts, too. Jacobs was replacing a franchise legend and fan favorite in Aaron Jones, while McKinney was the centerpiece of a complete overhaul at the safety position that resulted in three rookie draft picks for him to mentor.
The two remained as determined as they were undaunted. They set the example the only way they knew how – whether it was Jacobs running every practice handoff to the end zone or McKinney answering every last question in the meeting room and communicating every last detail of the defensive call on the field.
As players gravitated toward them, leadership came naturally, as both had worn the captain's "C" with their previous NFL teams and came from a college program/pro football factory like 'Bama
They also simply balled out, and their reunion in Green Bay got off to a rousing start.
In just his second game with the Packers, Jacobs took on the role of workhorse back with an injured Love replaced by newly arrived QB Malik Willis. He rushed 32 times for 151 yards in a victory over the Colts, the first time in 16 years a Green Bay running back had 30-plus carries in a game.
That set the stage for a 1,300-yard season with 15 rushing touchdowns, plus his first career receiving TD despite more than 200 catches to his name. He was named to his third Pro Bowl.
While Jacobs laughs that some of his best plays in 2024 were ones called back due to penalties, perhaps no play better epitomized his toughness, durability and dogged determination than the 31-yard run on the final play of the third quarter in the NFC Wild Card playoff at Philadelphia.
Dodging and breaking multiple tackles, Jacobs kept running while his undershirt was being torn into a tail behind him. He powered his way to the goal line, only to have replay reverse the initial touchdown call, requiring him to pound it into the end zone on the next play.
The score brought the Packers within 16-10 with a quarter to go against the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles, and while the team didn't get the desired result, Jacobs' 121 combined yards (81 rushing, 40 receiving) lived up to a declaration he made upon arriving in Green Bay that he was out to establish a playoff legacy.
"For me, in those types of games and those types of situations, I want to leave my mark," Jacobs said. "Not only that, I want the team to feel my energy when it comes to playing in those types of games. I always tell people, I play the best when the games matter the most. That's something I really take pride in."
Meanwhile, McKinney took over as the Packers' biggest defensive playmaker from the jump. He intercepted a pass in five straight games to start the season, tying an 81-year-old team record and becoming the first NFL player since the 1970 league merger with an interception in his first five games with a team.
As the season wore on, media and fans learned McKinney was known to ask position coach Ryan Downard for the film of the next opposing QB on the bus ride to the airport after a road game. He didn't get caught up in the interception streak, only spending his energy on what was next, and relishing each week's chess match with the signal caller on the other side.
"I'm always trying to be a step ahead, right?" McKinney said. "It's always going to be a mind game between me and the quarterback. I'm trying to do different things to be able to get in his head and make him think I might be doing something different from what I'm presenting, or what I'm showing. Just trying to throw him off in different ways where that creates more opportunities for me to get early jumps on wherever he's throwing the ball."
He wound up with eight interceptions in all, earning those initial All-Pro and Pro Bowl accolades and crediting the environment that made a newcomer feel as though he'd already been here for helping him thrive.
"When I first walked in the building, I knew I'm in a perfect spot," he said. "When people allow me to be myself and I don't have to change who I am or tiptoe around who I am, and I can just be me, that gives me the ability to go out there and play freely. I felt that ever since I got here.
"I always try to give credit to that and to the coaches and to the organization whenever I can, because I don't think they even realize and understand how much that means to me and for me."
What they do for an encore will be highly anticipated. In the prime of their careers, Jacobs will continue to be the heartbeat of the offense, while McKinney will keep hunting those game-changing turnovers.
They expect no drop-off from themselves amidst progress for the team.
"I think last year was a stepping stone for us," McKinney said. "We've got a lot of good pieces all around. We just have to keep focus on us coming together, us building that chemistry within each other, building the right environment, continuing to set the standard, not only for ourselves but the people coming in."
Each's leadership will only become more valuable as well.
"We felt like we were that close last year, and we've got a better team this year," Jacobs said. "I was telling X, as leaders, we don't get breaks. We don't get off days. That's just the truth because everybody's looking at us."
