For months, Green Bay Packers fans wondered if the 2023 season was going to be the last one in which they would be able to see running back Aaron Jones wearing the Green and Gold. To be fair, whether or not Jones would be back seems to have been a big question in each of the past few offseasons, but this year seemed all-the-more dubious.
That, of course, was because Jones is set to have a $17.5 million cap hit in 2024 after being injured for a big part of 2023. He is also on the wrong side of 30. Given the drama surrounding running backs Josh Jacobs, Saquan Barkley, and Jonathan Taylor last season, all of whom are younger than Jones, cutting Jones to save money seemed like a foregone conclusion.
Now that the season is over, there is conjecture over what players the Packers will re-sign, restructure, let walk in free agency, or cut to save money. The fact that Green Bay could save approximately $5 million by cutting Jones made him, to many an obvious cut candidate.
But Jones’ final five games, including the Packers’ two playoff games, made the question of his cut candidacy all the more complicated. In those five games, Jones became the first Packers running back ever to rush for over 100 yards in five consecutive games. Still, one NFL analyst believes that the time has come for Green Bay to bid adieu to the franchise’s third all-time leading rusher.
NFL Analyst Claims the Green Bay Packers Will Cut Aaron Jones
In a recent article in which he lists several big name NFL players that will be cap casualties this season (three of them Packers), NFL analyst Matt Okada of NFL.com claims that Jones is all but gone from Green Bay already:
“With AJ Dillon set to hit free agency and Jones entering the last year of his contract, Green Bay’s backfield is rather uncertain entering 2024. Unfortunately, Jones’ $17 million cap hit sits just behind Alvin Kamara for highest among running backs and his declined production (and health) for most of 2023 makes that number even harder to justify.
“On the flip side, Jones did come on strong at the end of the season and the dead money in his contract makes him a little tougher to release. If Brian Gutekunst and Co. can manage to maneuver the money through some sort of restructure, Jones would likely be the best available backfield mate for Jordan Love next year … but that’s a decently big ‘if.'”
Normally, what Okada wrote would make a ton of sense. There is just one problem. He’s wrong.
Green Bay Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst Has Already Said Aaron Jones Is “Absolutely” Coming Back in 2024
When asked if Jones would be back in 2024, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said:
“Yes. Absolutely. We’d love to have Aaron back. We’re still putting the numbers together on how to move forward, but he was such a difference maker when he was out there this year. The way our offense was able to move, I mean, he changed the way we operated a lot of things when he was healthy.
“I mean, for us, we have to find a way to keep him out there and keep him healthy, but not only on the field, and you guys [the media] know this, he is such an influence in our locker room. He’s really the heartbeat of our team, so that’s kind of the anticipation that he will be back.”
Will he be back for his full salary number with a $17.5 million cap hit? Almost certainly not. But he will be back. Anyone who says otherwise simply did not do their very basic research into the team beforehand
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