Running back Josh Jacobs will start his 2024 NFL season with a different team after five seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders. But his debut will come on Friday night with the Green Bay Packers, not on Thursday night with the Kansas City Chiefs.

As the former Alabama ball-carrier entered free agency this offseason, one of his suitors, Jacobs said, was Kansas City. But even though the Chiefs have won the past two Super Bowls, Jacobs said he didn’t have a lot of interest in playing for the Raiders’ AFC West rival.

“Going against them and, obviously, not winning a lot against them kind of made me feel like a certain hate towards them,” Jacobs said during a Tuesday appearance on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” “But not only that, like growing up, I was the underdog. I went to Alabama to prove that I belong, so I went there for myself. Now that I feel like I belong, I don’t want to be with the team that has all the pieces. I want to be on the team that’s figuring it out and is taking down the giants.”

The Packers added the NFL’s 2022 rushing leader for a four-year, $48 million contract, and Green Bay appears to be “figuring it out” fast. The Packers won six of their final eight regular-season games in 2023 to reach the playoffs. Green Bay opened the postseason by beating the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 before the San Francisco 49ers ended the Packers’ season with a 24-21 decision in the second round of the NFC playoffs.

“The thing that I noticed from Day 1 about this offense is how explosive it is, man,” Jacobs said. “I mean, the tight ends, the receivers, obviously the quarterback, like any given play, it could be a big play. And that’s the thing that excites me the most. Obviously with having a top-five quarterback back there, he makes a lot of things easier, so it makes it exciting for me, man. I don’t have to run against loaded boxes every game. Teams will definitely have to pick what they want to stop.”

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The 2024 season is kicking off on Thursday night when the Baltimore Ravens visit Kansas City. The active rosters of the 32 NFL teams include 138 players from Alabama high schools and colleges. Of those players, 27 others are like Jacobs and have changed teams since the 2023 season. Another 22 are rookies.

The Packers also count former Alabama safety Xavier McKinney among their new players after he left the New York Giants in free agency. Jacobs and McKinney will be with Green Bay for its season-opener against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday night.

“Definitely with the trip being as long as it is, just trying to embrace it, man,” Jacobs said. “… The Eagles got to go through the same situations as us. We’re just going to try to go out there and make the best of it.”

The Alabama Games of the Week are the Packers-Eagles contest on Friday night and the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns game on Sunday afternoon. In each contest, 13 players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.

The Week 1 schedule (with all times Central and point spreads from Catena):

Thursday

· Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs (-3), 7:20 p.m. (NBC)

Friday

· Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles (-2) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 7:15 p.m. (Peacock)

Sunday

· Pittsburgh Steelers at Atlanta Falcons (-3), noon (WBRC, WCOV, WDFX)

· Arizona Cardinals at Buffalo Bills (-6.5), noon

· Tennessee Titans at Chicago Bears (-4), noon (WZDX)

· New England Patriots at Cincinnati Bengals (-8), noon

· Houston Texans (-3) at Indianapolis Colts, noon

· Jacksonville Jaguars at Miami Dolphins (-3.5), noon (WIAT, WTVY, WHNT, WKRG, WAKA)

· Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints (-4), noon (WALA)

· Minnesota Vikings (-1.5) at New York Giants, noon

· Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers (-3), 3:05 p.m.

· Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks (-6), 3:05 p.m.

· Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns (-2.5), 3:25 p.m. (WBRC, WZDX, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)

· Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3), 3:25 p.m.

· Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions (-3.5), 7:20 p.m. (NBC)

Monday

· New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers (-4.5), 7:15 p.m. (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2)

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