The Green Bay Packers have a great deal of youth on their offense. Aside from the offensive line, the most experience on that side of the ball is going to come from their dynamic backfield duo of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Last season, Jones ran for a career-high 1,121 yards. For his part, Dillon rushed for 770 yards on one less carry than he had in 2021 (186 in 2022). He also set a career high for rushing touchdowns (seven). However, he did not play up to his standards, nor the standards that the coaches had for him. Running backs coach Ben Sirmans addressed challenging Dillon to be better in his press conference on Thursday.
The Green Bay Packers Need Running Back AJ Dillon to Be Better in 2023
During his interview, Sirmans was asked about the importance of Dillon improving from his 2022 season to help support Jordan Love as the new starting quarterback of the Packers. Sirmans responded:
“I think that’s something that we talked about, and you bring up just a good point. And there’s been games when he’s started off the season pretty strong, but there was a point, we talked about it, where it was last year, I thought he could’ve been playing at a more aggressive level. And then we talked about it, watched the tape, he saw what I was referring to and then he applied what we talked about to moving on.
“And understanding that, it’s gotta be right from the start. Hey, we know the things that we like that you did last year and when you played this way you are very effective, but when you play this way, you weren’t. So, we need to start off this way. So, there will be more of an emphasis on how we need to start.
“This wasn’t the type of year and expectations that, not only he had for himself but from what I had for him and what others in this building had for him. I think that he’s the type of person, at least from what he’s shown me, that he’s going to respond to that challenge and come out and have a much more productive year. And you saw a lot of great things in spurts, but that was just the problem, it was just in spurts. It wasn’t consistent, and that’s what our goal is.”
A consistent AJ Dillon, combined with Aaron Jones, can be a dangerous thing. In 2021, both running backs eclipsed 1,000 all-purpose. Last season, Dillon fell short of that mark, finished with 976 all-purpose yards.
The aspect of the game in which he really struggled the most was in the passing game. Despite have more targets (43) than he did in 2021 (37), Dillon had few receptions (28 in 2022, 34 in 2021), less yards (206 in 2022, 313 in 2021), and fewer touchdowns (zero in 2022, two in 2021). His catch percentage plummeted from 91.9% in 2021 to just 61.5% in 2022. The reason for the decrease in production? Seven dropped passes. Dillon did not drop a single pass in either of his first two seasons, but struggled to hang onto passes last season.
If he gets those drops cleaned up in 2023, the Packers’ offense will have a true dual-threat running back duo.
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