There is much dispute over the Packers’ decision not to resign Aaron Jones and instead sign Josh Jacobs as a free agent. Some fans think that we should have held on to both A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones as they could have been a top running back duo in the league. On the other hand, many people think that Aaron Jones is getting too old to be worth resigning and it was a good decision to let him go. Either way, very few Packers fans are against signing Josh Jacobs.
In the 2023 season, Josh Jacobs had 805 yards to Aaron Jones’s 656, as well as the fact that the Packers had 441 rushing attempts to the Raiders’ 413. This means about 41.9% of the Packers’ offensive plays were rushing attempts, while 40.9% of the Raiders’ offensive plays were rushing attempts. All of this justifies the idea that Aaron Jones is slowing down and can no longer be at the level to compete with the top running backs in the league. Aaron Jones also only has 400 more career yards despite his 2 more seasons. This means Josh Jacobs consistently had more season yards than Aaron Jones.
Avid Packer fan and high school freshman Adrian Wensing, said, “I think it would have been smarter to keep Aaron Jones and get Josh Jacobs since Aaron Jones was pretty cheap.” This is true, as the Vikings, a division rival, signed Aaron Jones for a $7M 1 year deal, which is considerably cheap for a running back of his caliber. Letting this running back go to a division rival could also bring heavy consequences for the Packers, as he could be an excellent addition to the Viking’s offense.
The Packers also decided to re-sign their other running back, AJ Dillon. He had an average of 3.4 rushing yards in 2023, worse than both Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones, but this is still pretty good considering his running back style. Despite the loss of Aaron Jones, Keeping AJ Dillon will still make up for much of this loss as Dillon has lots of room for improvement.
Overall, next season is looking good for the Packers, as they look towards improving their already young offense by making some major changes this off-season. Getting rid of some big players seems to have worked for the Packers in the past, as they have recently gotten rid of two stars, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams while maintaining a successful offense. The 2024-2025 season full of change could bring even more success to the evermore young team.
