Packers: Does Josh Jones have a future with the team?

The Green Bay Packers have an interesting decision to make with Josh Jones.

When the Packers drafted Josh Jones in the second round of the 2017 draft, they thought he would be the heir apparent to Morgan Burnett at strong safety. But things don’t always go according to plan.

Jones has struggled to get on the field consistently the past two years. Once Burnett left, Kentrell Brice took over the starting role last year, not Jones.

In Mike Pettine’s defense, the Packers wanted Jones to play in that nickel linebacker hybrid role. Jones wasn’t very happy about that. He requested a trade and during June minicamp made some comments about not being a linebacker:

"“I’m not a linebacker; y’all can get that out of your head. You can stop writing about that. That’s not going to happen.”"

On his podcast, Locked on Packers, Peter Bukowski talked a little bit about the situation and I agree with a lot of what he says. He talks about how Jones has no leverage in this situation. The Packers have no reason to cut him.

He’s still on his rookie deal and the Packers spent a second-round pick on him. There’s no way they will get a second-round pick back for him, or even a third or fourth-round pick. In the end, it is in both the Packers’ and Jones’ interest for Jones to report and keep playing.

So sure enough, Jones showed up for training camp and he starts off in that nickel linebacker role. Raven Greene was in the strong safety position across from Adrian Amos. The first few practices Jones looked good, earning praise from GM Brian Gutekunst.

"“I think Josh has had a really good beginning of camp. In the four days, he’s shown up and made some plays. Obviously, the physical gifts are all there. He’s getting a lot of opportunities. There’s some really positive signs that he could really help our football team. We’ve got a long way to go, there’s a lot of competition on the back end right now, but it’s been really positive seeing him do what he’s doing.”"

Things were looking up until Wednesday’s practice. Rookie Darnell Savage returned to practice for the first time and jumped right in with the ones for the walkthroughs. Greene went to the nickel linebacker role, and Jones went to the sideline.

Then, Jones got into a little scuffle in practice with running back Tra Carson. Tackling him to the ground, perhaps a little late. But when the head coach wants no tackling as it is, that’s a not a great idea. A few guys got into a pushing match, but no punches were thrown.

This isn’t the first time Jones has gotten into a scuffle at practice. Last year he did something similar to Jimmy Graham, which started a fight.

Matt LaFleur then essentially threw Jones out of practice. He stood on the sideline watching until the practice was completed. In his post-practice presser, LaFleur said: “That’s not what we want to be about, we have to take care of our teammates. We are a team. We need everybody. That’s how we operate.”

The Packers have a decision to make on Jones. Since he isn’t a starter and has essentially fallen behind Greene in that nickel linebacker position, that may make him a little more expendable.

He may not be worth the headache to hang on to him. It may be in Jones’ best interest to keep his head down because if he does it seems as though he will have a role on this team. If he can’t, I don’t know if he will be around much longer.