On Tuesday, reports surfaced that doctors have cleared running back AJ Dillon to resume playing in 2025. Back-to-back neck stingers in a span of nine months had Dillon on the shelf for all of 2024.
Naturally, Green Bay Packers fans wonder if Dillon will return with the recent news. However, the Packers have already made that decision.
Dillon has been a fan favorite in Green Bay for years. Nicknamed “Quadzilla,” Dillon has embraced the city and the surrounding area; he’s also known as “The Mayor of Door County.” That nickname caught so much steam that Dillon was given a key to the county in 2021.
Unfortunately for Dillon, injuries have piled up, and Green Bay has moved on even if they haven’t said so directly.
Last offseason, the Packers brought in Josh Jacobs to be the top back. They doubled down at the position by drafting USC’s MarShawn Lloyd in the third round in 2024. It wasn’t a filler pick, and it wasn’t the Packers taking a random flier on someone. They used a third-rounder on Lloyd.
Green Bay had to make a decision on running back Emanuel Wilson this offseason. Wilson was an exclusive-rights free agent. The Packers chose to tender him, bringing him back into the mix in 2025. Wilson stepped in and stepped up as the backup to Jacobs when Lloyd missed most of the season.
That’s three running backs already, four when you factor in Chris Brooks being under contract through 2025.
The Packers have a full running back room at the moment. While Wilson and Brooks are on shorter deals, it’s not as though Dillon would command a multi-year contract where he would be around longer than those two and simply outlast them. Green Bay gave Dillon a one-year deal last offseason before his second neck stinger caused him to miss the season.
This is the slightly awkward part of the NFL where people say, It’s a business.
Dillon is not just beloved; he’s a productive back when available. However, the ship has sailed in Green Bay. The Packers have made that apparent with their moves at the position.
In an ideal world, the Packers could say, The more the merrier! and bring Dillon back. That isn’t the reality, though.
Even in Dillon’s last season on the field in 2023, he averaged just 40.9 yards per game on the ground with two total touchdowns while in a timeshare with Aaron Jones.
Some were surprised that the Packers brought Dillon back last year after he missed the final three games in 2023 with a neck stinger. Keep in mind that Green Bay signed Dillon to a one-year deal after getting Jacobs but before drafting Lloyd. The plans were made clear then that Dillon likely wasn’t part of the equation for the long run.
Still, Brian Gutekunst got Dillon back on an extremely team-friendly deal that could only max out at $2.5 million.
Jones and Dillon were a thunder-and-lightning duo during their time in Green Bay. Matt LaFleur has always preferred two backs who do things differently.
After the Jacobs signing, followed by bringing Dillon back, headlines of the head-scratching variety wondered aloud if Green Bay was going with a “thunder-and-thunder” option. Drafting Lloyd shifted that perspective.
At the NFL Combine in 2023, when asked about Dillon specifically, Gutekunst mentioned the need for two running backs before talking about the Boston College product.
AJ’s done a great job for us the past four years and we’d love to have him back. We’ll see where that goes, but we’re going to have to address that one way or another.
They addressed it by paying scraps to a player in Dillon who likely could’ve gotten more elsewhere but maybe wanted to stick around in the city where he is beloved.
Had Green Bay not tendered Wilson this offseason, the door would’ve been ajar for a Dillon return. Theoretically, the Packers could cut Brooks if they wanted. LaFleur brought him in for a reason, though, and last year spoke glowingly of Brooks’ running style.
Lloyd missed almost the entire season, and Green Bay will want to see what it has in the second-year back getting reps behind Jacobs.
There’s just no room for Dillon.
Someone should pick him up now that he’s been cleared. Dillon will only be 27 in May and has proven to be a bowling ball in the backfield when he gets opportunities. Heck, if the Packers wanted a fullback, maybe there’d be a slot.
The big hurdle was getting clearance from doctors, especially after two separate neck injuries less than a year apart. That hurdle has been cleared.
Next up is getting a deal done somewhere. Unfortunately for Dillon and many Packers fans, that won’t be in Green Bay.
