The Green Bay Packers bolstered their running game on the first day of the NFL’s legal tampering period by signing free agent running back Josh Jacobs, who led the league in rushing as recently as 2022.
With Jacobs in the fold, the focus turns to incumbent Packers running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Will either RB be back in Green Bay in 2024?
Editor’s note: The Packers released Jones on Monday. PFN’s Dallas Robinson looked at seven teams that could sign Jones in the coming days.
Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon Likely Out After Packers Sign Josh Jacobs
NFL Network was the first to report Jacobs’ agreement with the Packers. We’re still waiting on the length and price tag.
Still, it would be surprising if Jacobs signed for less than the $8 million annual salary fellow free agent RBs Tony Pollard and D’Andre Swift received from the Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears, respectively, on Monday.
Green Bay, which boasted the NFL’s youngest offense by snap-weighted age in 2023, may view Jacobs as something of a finishing touch. A first-team All-Pro in 2022, Jacobs played under the franchise tag this past season, posting fewer than half the 1,653 rushing yards he’d put up the year prior.
The former first-round pick profiles as the Packers’ bell-cow. Jacobs’ addition almost certainly ensures Dillon’s departure, and Dillon may have been a goner regardless of how Green Bay addressed its running back depth chart this offseason.
Dillon averaged just 3.4 yards per carry and posted a 50% rushing success rate, both career lows.
Part of a deep free agent running back market that still includes unsigned options like Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler, and others, Dillon may struggle to find guaranteed money — and it almost certainly won’t come from the Packers.
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Jones is a more interesting case. He’s under contract for 2024, but there’s almost no chance he’ll return to Green Bay at his scheduled $11.1 million salary.
Jones is 29 years old. He agreed to a pay cut for the 2023 campaign, then dealt with injury issues during the season. Jones missed six games with an MCL issue after staying healthy for all 17 contests in 2022.
The Packers could create $5.22 million in cap space by releasing Jones this offseason. Green Bay would absorb $12.355 million in dead money by cutting ties with the franchise icon, but another option could exist.
Would Jones be open to another pay reduction to stick with the only team he’s ever played for?
Jones was still productive when healthy last season, and his pass-catching prowess could complement Jacobs’ abilities between the tackles.
If he’s willing to slice his base salary in half and play for $5 million or so next season, Jones may still make sense as a veteran piece on a young Packers roster.
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