Packers’ Aaron Jones evolves as a leader, receiver as Green Bay enters the Jordan Love era

For years, Jones has performed as one of the NFL’s top running backs, and that continued in 2022, as he amassed a career-high 1,121 rushing yards while averaging 5.3 yards per carry — the second-most in the entire league among running backs. That high-level efficiency is business as usual for Jones, since 2022 marked the fourth time in six career seasons that he has averaged more than five yards per rush.

What’s different for Jones now in Green Bay, at 28 years old, is he’s positioned to help lead the growth of his offensive skill position teammates, just about all of whom are younger than him:

• 2023 second-round pick tight end Luke Musgrave (22 years old)
• 2023 third-round pick tight end Tucker Kraft (22 years old)
• 2023 second-round pick wide receiver Jayden Reed (23 years old)
• 2022 fourth-round pick wide receiver Romeo Doubs (23 years old)
• 2020 first-round pick quarterback Jordan Love (24 years old)
• 2022 second-round pick wide receiver Christian Watson (24 years old)
• 2020 second-round pick running back AJ Dillon (25 years old)
• 2022 seventh-round pick wide receiver Samori Toure (25 years old)

That’s a dramatic age shift in comparison to the veteran-laden groups that were present during Jones’ first six NFL seasons with Rodgers as his starting quarterback.   

“I’ve had to become a little bit more vocal,” Jones said. “We have a very, very young team. I was more of a lead-by-example guy, but now I’ve had to become more vocal because we don’t have those vets that we have had like the Randall Cobb’s, Aaron Rodgers’ and Marcedes Lewis‘ on the offensive side of the ball. I have to [become more vocal]. It’s only right. Those guys did it for me, instilled the confidence and so many other things in me, so it’s only right that I give it back to these young guys.”

Continued evolution 

To remain valuable as a running back who isn’t on a rookie deal is a point of contention around the NFL after all three Pro Bowl running backs who were franchise-tagged — Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders), Saquon Barkley (New York Giants) and Tony Pollard (Cowboys) — didn’t receive long-term deals at the July 17 deadline. The way Jones position’s league-wide market value has declined over the last several seasons in comparison to a financial uptick for several position groups has him baffled considering the on-field responsibilities running backs carry on their shoulders. 

“It’s crazy to me because running backs bring so much value,” Jones said. “You got to be able to protect and have to pass protect just like an offensive lineman. You have to know all the offensive line calls up front, who they’re working to. You have to run the ball as well with 11 guys trying to hit you. You make it hard to take you off the field, so you’re involved in the passing game. You’re doing just as much as anyone else except for the quarterback and maybe the center [on offense]. I really don’t understand how the position got devalued, but I hope our value comes back because if you look at it, running backs make a big difference in the game. Whether it’s protecting the quarterback — being that sixth-man in protection — running the ball, or taking pressure off of the quarterback [in the passing game].”  

Naturally, Jones has put a significant focus for his offseason work into his route-running and pass-catching for a number of reasons. One is he could have a higher volume as a pass-catcher with the many other young pass-catchers getting adjusted to their NFL roles. Another is he’s looking to build upon his career-high 59 catches that went for 395 receiving yards and five touchdowns last season. Jones averaged 6.7 yards per reception in 2022, the second-lowest rate of his career, so he made sure to expand the depth of his route tree when working with Love out on the West Coast.

“I’m always trying to evolve my game in that area [as a receiver],” Jones said. “The more you can do, it makes it harder for them to take you off the field. Not just because we have the young receivers, but I’m just trying to stay on my game and expand my route tree. Then, I don’t have to come off the field. They can just move me around the formation, and I know the route concepts, I know how to run them. I know the coverages. It’s been some work getting involved [in the passing game] the last three to four years. Each year, I think I get more and more involved in the passing game.”

There may be a shift in terms of the primary offensive formations used in Green Bay going forward with an offense centered around Love’s abilities as well as what Jones, whose career 5.1 yards per carry ranks as tied for the fourth-most in the Super Bowl Era, and fellow back AJ Dillion can provide. During Rodgers’ return to peak performance in his back-to-back MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021, the Packers leaned into lining up under center 40.5% of the time, the 10th-highest rate in the NFL. Looking more like head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense — with the head coach calling the team’s offensive plays and Rodgers for the most part sticking to them — led to an incredible increase in offensive efficiency. 

Packers offensive rankings under Matt LaFleur since 2019

*Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back NFL MVPs

However, Rodgers and the Packers simultaneously struggled when they went away from the offense’s foundational staples of going under center and utilizing play-action. With the 2022 season having both the lowest under center (31.1%) and play-action (15.2%) rates of LaFleur’s four-season tenure in Green Bay, the Packers went 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time under their current head coach. A stark contrast to the Packers’ three years in a row with 13-win seasons — the only such streak in NFL history — Rodgers also had the worst single-season passer rating of his career in 2022 (91.1) after he and the team shifted to the way he preferred to play: more shotgun and more route progressions based on his ability to read the field, elements of former head coach Mike McCarthy’s West Coast offense. 

A return to the under-center foundation in 2023 seems likely given LaFleur’s known desire for offensive balance and to ease Love into the role of NFL starting quarterback by having the scheme simplify his workload before and after the snap. 

“I’m not sure,” Jones said when asked if the Packers will play more under-center football in 2023. “I know Matt [LaFleur] likes to be balanced and make a lot of things look the same, so you can’t get a read [on what we’re doing] using a lot of motion for eye candy to get people out of their gaps. I don’t know how much we’ll be under center or in the gun, but I don’t expect our scheme to change much. We’ve always had the gun plays in, and we’ve always had the under-center plays in. It just depends on what they’re calling.”

New outside expectations, same internal standard 

The offense’s core principles going forward are just one of the many things Jones and the Packers will be digging into when veterans report for training camp at Lambeau Field on July 25. The Pro Bowler will also be looking to squeeze in some work on the side on his cornhole bag tossing technique since he qualified for the Johnsonville SuperHole IV Cornhole Championship in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Friday, August 4. It’s a pro-am philanthropic event where celebrities are paired up with professional corn hole players in pursuit of a world title. Jones, representing his “A&A All The Way” foundation, and his partner, Yetty Irwan, won one of the preliminary events in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after he signed on following a suggestion from one of his good friends, Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins.

In order to participate, Jones will need to be able to get out to South Carolina on Aug. 4, a Packers training camp off day, and then promptly return to Lambeau Field for the team’s Family Night festivities on Aug. 5. The chance to be a world champion is alluring for the two-time NFC runner-up. 

“If it’s possible for me to make it, I would love to be there since it’s for charity,” Jones said. “It’s also the big one, the world championships. Hopefully, it lines up with our [the Packers] scheduling and allows me to make it. I have a cornhole trophy man. I don’t have an NFL trophy. I would love to be a part of it.”