Among the accolades to be presented at the 12th annual NFL Honors program on Thursday night is the FedEx Ground Player of the Year Award. But the winner was revealed on Thursday morning by the winner – Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs.

The 2022 season is the 20th that FedEx has sponsored the Ground and Air Player of the Year awards, as well as a weekly competition for both honors. Jacobs won a fan vote among the three finalists for the Ground Player of the Year Award, outpolling another former Alabama standout, Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans, and Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb.

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“I’m definitely blessed and honored,” Jacobs said on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” as he reflected on his journey from his sometimes-homeless childhood. “I don’t think that in the moment it kind of hits me. I think it’s like when I lay down at night and I think about it and I pray and things like that, it kind of sinks in. It’s definitely and honor and a blessing and, hopefully, more to come in the future.”

In his fourth NFL season, Jacobs led the league with 1,653 rushing yards. He scored 12 touchdowns on his 340 rushing attempts. With 400 yards on 53 receptions, Jacobs also topped the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 2,053 in 2022.

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Jacobs is on course to become a free agent on March 15 unless the Raiders sign him to a contract extension or use their franchise tag on him before then.

Last offseason, Las Vegas declined to pick up its option for a fifth season on Jacobs’ contract, which would have committed the Raiders to pay the running back $8.034 million for the 2023 season.

Using the franchise tag would commit Las Vegas to paying Jacobs $10.91 million for the 2023 season if it can’t get a long-term contract agreement with him after keeping him out of the free-agent market.

“For me, I got the Raiders shield tatted on me,” Jacobs said. “It’s always something that I wanted to be a part of coming in and seeing the culture and want to get back to winning and change the culture to get the winning mentality and things like that. I’m fully invested in it. I just brought a house in Vegas. It’s definitely a place where I want to be.”

But Jacobs said he was keeping his options open if he does reach free agency.

The Raiders are parting ways with quarterback Derek Carr after nine seasons. Las Vegas is attempting to trade Carr, even though he has a no-trade clause in his contract.

Speculation on the Raiders’ quarterback of the future has centered on Las Vegas landing Aaron Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers. If that happened, Jacobs said it would affect his decision.

“I know they’re looking at a few guys,” Jacobs said. “I’m seeing a lot of things about Aaron Rodgers right now. But I don’t know how that’s going to go. I know if Aaron Rodgers do go, it changes a lot of things for me and the way that I put things into perspective on coming back.”

By winning the award, Jacobs received $20,000 to donate to a historically Black college, and he chose Langston University near his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

NFL Honors will be televised at 8 p.m. CST Thursday by NBC and NFL Network.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.