The Packers had one of the best RB tandems in the NFL last season, and they’ll roll with the same duo in 2022. However, that might be the last season we’ll see the two-headed monster in Green Bay. Matt Schneidman of The Athletic writes that the Packers could move on from one of Aaron Jones or AJ Dillon next offseason.
This isn’t a huge surprise if you look at Green Bay’s cap sheet. Dillon will be entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2023, and if he can match his breakout sophomore numbers (1,116 yards from scrimmage, seven touchdowns), then he’ll surely be pushing for an extension. Considering the Packers invested a second-round pick in Dillon, they’d presumably be willing to oblige.
However, it was only a year ago that the Packers inked Jones to a four-year, $48MM extension. That $12MM AAV ranks seventh at the position, and Green Bay could save themselves $10MM by cutting the veteran running back. It’d make sense for Green Bay to pivot that cap hit to the younger Dillon.
Following 2019 and 2020 campaigns where Jones combined for more than 3,000 yards from scrimmage while finding the end zone 30 times, the Packers pretty much split the RB carries evenly between Jones and Dillon in 2021. The move worked out for Green Bay, as they got 2,306 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns from the duo.
“I think they feed off each other pretty well,” running backs coach Ben Sirmans said (via Schneidman). “It’s kind of a luxury because you can keep them both fresh throughout the game and then toward the end, you can either throw AJ in there to pound and wear the defense down or put Aaron in and all of a sudden the defense is worn down and it’s an explosive play. Having a blend of both those guys, that will continue throughout this upcoming season.”
If the Packers do move on from one of the two RBs next offseason, the other running backs on the Packers roster could parlay a solid 2022 campaign into a bigger role in 2023. Patrick Taylor and Kylin Hill are still around, although the latter could start the season on PUP. Green Bay also brought in a pair of undrafted free agent RBs in Tyler Goodson and BJ Baylor.
Does GB have the ability to restructure/extend or otherwise save money against the cap and keep Jones in ’23, or is this one of those cases where they’d have to cut ties and try and re-sign him if they wish? Obviously Jones would have to be on board with such an idea.
It’s a soft cap and any half way capable GM can always find ways to retain key players. Getting players to agree to restructures isn’t particularly difficult if they are part of a winning program, which the Packers have been in recent years.
I was thinking some players contracts are structured so that they could only be reworked once or twice or whatever. I believe if Jones is productive and healthy again this year, they’ll do everything they can to retain him..just asking if there are any “legal” restrictions that would stand in the way.
Packers FO often makes no sense to me. Draft Love in the 1st when you already have Rodgers. Draft Dillon when you already have Jones. Don’t use Love at all in 2020 and use Dillon sparingly. Then sign Rodgers to a mega deal and Jones to a large deal of his own. Then leak that you’re planning on dumping still-productive Jones because Dillon had a good year.
Could have drafted a WR (Tee Higgans, Pittman Jr, etc) instead of Love and a defensive player instead of Dillon and instantly made the team better.
Honestly, the Dillon pick would have made sense if they hadn’t then proceeded to sign Jones to that extension.
Love pick was never a good idea
I thought they drafted Dillon too early (there’s no reasonable excuse or explanation for drafting Love, and never will be IMO), but the logic was that both Jones and Williams had 1 year remaining on their deals, and they wouldn’t be able to retain both, possibly neither.
It’s also not some secret being leaked about Jones potentially being cut loose after this year. The way his deal was structured, people immediately said there was a high probability he’d only see the first 2 years, before the cap hit made it undesirable to retain him..reworking it already this spring only added to that possibility.
@wagner- unless I’m wrong, Jones (and Williams) played what was Dillon’s rookie season before agreeing to a new deal. It was a real possibility both would be gone, leaving Dillon as the guy (with any kind of experience). I believe he even took a bit of a discount so to speak to stick around.
Jones still being productive doesn’t mean you need to pay a running back eight figures.
And win and win and win. For three decades.
That would be mind-boggingly insane.
If the Packers did not plan to keep Jones long term, then they never should have extended him at the cost of losing Corey Linsley. Dillon was drafted either to replace Jones or to have the Packers commit to a two back tandem. They could have retained Linsley and one of those backs, or kept the two backs instead, as they’ve appeared to have done. If this goes through, they’d have lost two contributing players instead of just one.
In any case, a Packers team in 2023 that has lost Adams, Jones/Dillon, and Linsley seems to have shed massive amounts of talent for the sake of adding…what, exactly? I could be overreacting possibly, but I really can’t see how this was well managed.
See my above response, it may help you. I don’t recall the Jones/Williams/Dillon situation affecting how they handled Linsley. They’ve shown over the past decade or so they don’t like to give big contracts to older linemen (and probably wish they could take back the Bahktiari deal..) and didn’t think he was worth $13+mm/yr.
Well, what it came down to last offseason was whether to pay Linsley in his walk year or Jones in his. The cap made it impossible to offer both. They did essentially choose Jones over Linsley, who of course proceeded to sign with the Chargers.
At the time, I would have kept Linsley, had it been my decision. Jones is a very good back and shines in that offense, and means a lot to the team, but picking between the best center in the league at the time and a possible top five back is an easy choice for me. I just think that quality centers have more longevity. When Green Bay signed Jones to the (theoretical) four year extension, I thought that if they couldn’t keep their line intact, they at least were getting a quality tandem. Now, it appears that they will have neither.
Jenkins is great, but the Packers rely on moving him around to plug holes too much. Keeping Linsley could have kept him at guard. Rodgers, like any smart QB, vastly improved that line by calling protections and audibling. Without him, they’re much worse (as seen in Jordan Love’s start against KC). Retaining Linsley would have helped, but if they were getting rid of him, they at least could have done so for a payoff of more than two years.
Had they drafted Creed Humphrey (who was still on the board) instead the other guy they took at center last year then letting Linsley walk looks like a great move….instead our draft team screwed it up again.
KC got one of the biggest steals in the draft with Creed.
Humphrey is a left handed center so they decided to go with Myers
So they would have been better with Linsley on the line, and a backfield of rookie Dillon and…who?
Somehow I don’t see that having given them a more dynamic or balanced offense.
Not sure what the 2 year payoff means either. If they’d given that deal to Linsley, he might face the same potential fate as Jones. Which, by the way, isn’t set in stone. I’ll repeat..if Jones is productive and healthy and there’s a way to rework his deal again, they’ll do it. It’s not like he’s a 1 trick pony. Run, block, catch passes..I think there’s plenty of value in that, despite Oooof insisting you don’t ever pay RB’s..ever.
I agree with afsooner regarding Humphrey (I’d say that the Steelers in particular whiffed on that as well, so the Packers aren’t alone at least), and to a degree with you, Manny. Let me be clear-I’ve got nothing against Jones, and I think that he’s a valuable addition to the team. I don’t think that running backs are interchangeable.
I do think that Linsley was better at his respective position and harder to replace, however. I also think pretty strongly that he will remain valuable longer than Jones will, as centers can remain productive starters into their 30s more commonly than running backs. A lot of Green Bay’s success in particular came from their interior line play that year, and Linsley was effective as a pass blocker as well who alleviated much of the pressure on Rodgers when it came to calling protections.
My point is this, though: if the Packers let Jones or Dillon go after making that decision, they’d have gotten very little out of it. They need to either hold on to both backs or should have retained Linsley to make it worth it. Allowing the team to lose both is just mismanagement.
@Manny
Dillon would have been a second year professional by the time Jones departed. He seemed pretty competent in Jones’ absence last season, so I think he would have fared well by himself; particularly if you still have Linsley to block
@AK185
It should be noted that the Steelers didn’t target offensive line until the third round (Green). They would have had to have passed on Friermuth to pick Creed. You can argue that would have been the right decision, but I don’t see that as egregious
@wagner- yup, that’s right. Got my years mixed up there. Still, as a second year guy..and the 2-back system GB seems to prefer..it wouldn’t have been ideal for him to be the guy, or for a second back who was likely to be unproven as the change of pace. That was the point I was trying to make.
I guess I’m also somewhat misguided regarding the o-line situation. Not to take anything from Linsley, but it’s not as if the center position has been awful since his departure. Seems I recall talk during a game right before Myers injury last year comparing him quite favorably to the KC guy.
Josh Myers on a rookie deal makes way more sense than Linsley at $12.5M. The difference in play is not that significant when every penny saved is.
Arguing that $12.5 million for a player is not worth it is one thing. Arguing that Corey Linsley was somehow not significantly better with the Packers than Josh Myers is quite another.
Point is, again, not that Linsley is irreplaceable. The point is that if this decision goes through, the Packers would end up with neither Jones nor Linsley, which would be incredibly disappointing.
Injuries will sort this matter out.
It’s mind boggling people saying this team is mismanaged. 11 wins three loses three years running. Also, aaron Jones has been vital to this offense. He’s the complete back that has the potential to score every time he touches the ball. AND he means so much to the offense just by being on the field. Look at Rodgers numbers on play action, it’s video game stats. Teams respect our running game when jones is on the field which helps open up passing game. Yeah, let’s let him walk in favor if a center so we can hear more how we don’t surround Rodgers with enough weapons.
You can still be successful on the field and make managerial blunders. Those aren’t mutually exclusive scenarios. Nobody is perfect and I highly doubt they aren’t having second thoughts about picking Love in 2020.
I can see your side of the argument, but I should clarify that I wasn’t insisting Linsley is more valuable than Jones; it was more that, having picked Dillon in the second round, it seems curious to let your top five center go and lock another runningback up to a lucrative deal. Given that GB is now considering prematurely terminating that deal, it makes you wonder if they could have managed things differently.
There’s no “right or wrong” here; it’s a thought experiment. I recognize Jones’ value and see the logic behind locking him up, but then why pick Dillon in the second round instead of a receiver back in 2020? I thought the idea was to conserve salary so that you can still have a solid running game (with 2nd year Dillon in lieu of Jones) AND retain Linsley. Even if they didn’t trust Dillon to completely carry the load, having both Williams and AJ would have been cheaper than Jones. Just my interpretation
To maybe bring a little comedic relief to our disagreement/discussion..GB didn’t draft a wr in 2020 cuz that’s how they roll!
If I’m the Saints, I’m on the phone with the Packers to see what gets Dillon. Kamara is probably sitting at least 6 games, if not facing actual jail time. Ingram has a lot of miles and is the wrong side of 30. Dennis Allen and Pete Carmichael have already said that running the ball more will be a high priority. I’m not certain if Green Bay would trade in the conference, but it’d certainly be worth looking into.
I haven’t really touched on the idea that Dillon will be the odd man out, cuz I just don’t see that happening. If they’re forced to choose between Dillon and Jones (and only those 2) logic says they hold onto the younger (and probably cheaper, at least for a year) guy.
Jones’ skill set translates favorably to New Orleans’ offense, despite his higher price tag. If the Packers are considering letting him walk to save in cap space, a trade for Jones may be a possibility. Of course, New Orleans always seems to be pushing up against cap, but Loomis always seems to get out of it, so I put nothing past them in terms of deal negotiation.