With the transition to Jordan Love as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback, there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding what Matt LaFleur’s offense will look like and how they’ll find success. Enter running back Aaron Jones. Everyone knows that Jones is a star player, but the quarterback transition will reveal how key Jones is to unlocking a new-look Packers offense and supercharging Love’s development.
In each of last four seasons, Jones has been Green Bay’s most consistent offensive skill-position player and averaged over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. Additionally, Jones was the Packers’ highest-graded offensive player in 2023, posting an 86.1 overall grade according to Pro Football Focus (PFF). That grade was good for sixth among all running backs. His only weakness may be protecting the ball. Jones had five fumbles last year, the most of his career. While the turnovers are concerning, Jones is still Green Bay’s most consistent, impactful offensive player and an exceptional runner.
Beyond his production running the ball, Jones’ versatility is paramount to his value. In 2022, he lined up on 371 pass snaps and 259 run snaps, according to PFF. Regardless of the offensive concept and where the ball goes on a particular play, Aaron Jones can find a role, whether it is running, receiving, blocking, or motioning and distracting the defense to open up opportunities for other players. He’s the definition of a three-down back and will see the field often in 2023.
Last week, I wrote about Love’s development since college and his growth in the ability to read defenses and play in rhythm. In 2022, the Packers did not play with rhythm or tempo on a consistent basis. Much of this is due to Aaron Rodgers‘ strengths. He prefers diagnosing defenses as long as possible pre-snap, audibling Green Bay into the most ideal play based on his diagnosis, and using a hard count to draw defenses offsides. However, a by-product of this is that the Packers ranked 31st in seconds per play and ranked 25th in the percentage of plays run out of no-huddle looks. This may not be the right mix for Love at quarterback.
While time and tempo stats are not necessarily indicative of team success, they can be indicative of an approach on offense. In 2023, I’d anticipate the Packers implementing more up-tempo looks and no-huddle offense to try to put more pressure on opposing defenses and simplify what Love has to do pre-snap and play-to-play.
Jones may more frequently be built into such plays as a motion player. Jones emphasized his willingness to play such a role in his most recent post-practice press conference. When asked about motioning more in 2023, he said, “I’d like to help this team any way I can. If that means I’m a jet sweep guy taking some attention trying to draw three or four people out then so be it.” Additionally, I could see Jones being built into more plays as a safety valve in the flat for Love if a play breaks down.
Finally, Jones’ role in the locker room may be just as important in 2023 as his performance on the field. The Packers are shaping up to be one of the youngest teams in the NFL. Throughout the offseason, Jones has set the example by showing up to the optional organized team activities and doing extra work by traveling to California to work out with Love. “Just trying to get on the same page,” Jones said, “because we know it’ll be really vital during the season.” Jones’ actions show he wants to be in Green Bay and will do everything in his power to make the team better and be a leader.
Jones is a complete player in all facets of the game. His “yes, sir, no, sir” demeanor in public makes it easy to underestimate his overall value. However, Jones seems to like it that way. “We’re here to play ball. We got everything we need,” he said. “We know it’s going to take all 11 and that we’ll have to depend on each other in all phases, but we’re hungry, we’re ready to prove a lot of people wrong.” I, for one, am not going to underestimate his ability to make the Packers’ offense a success in 2023.
