Packers: Aaron Jones expected to be active vs. 49ers in Week 9

The Packers are expected to have Aaron Jones back in Week 9.

There is some good news for the Green Bay Packers ahead of tonight’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, star running back Aaron Jones is expected to be active tonight as long as he doesn’t have any setbacks before the game. Schefter added that the Packers plan to be “careful” due to his calf injury, which suggests he won’t get the same number of snaps he usually would.

This comes as a surprise as the Packers typically don’t rush players back before they are 100 percent healthy. However, it’s understandable given the importance of the game and the Packers’ running back situation that they could let Jones play as long as he feels OK.

Green Bay won’t have running backs Jamaal Williams or AJ Dillon tonight as they are both on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The team has promoted Dexter Williams to the active roster and he should see a role on offense along with Tyler Ervin.

Having Jones out there for even half of his usual number of snaps would give this offense a huge boost in a tough matchup.

Perhaps the Packers are also factoring in the mini bye week which will follow this game. With 10 days before the next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jones will have some additional time to recover.

This is also a much bigger game than next week’s contest against Jacksonville. That game is against an AFC opponent, tonight is a key matchup with another NFC contender. And no matter the number of players missing for San Francisco, this will be a difficult game.

Time will tell how many carries Jones gets and it’s still no guarantee he’ll even be active, but the expectation is that he’ll be out there tonight against the 49ers, and that’s great news for Matt LaFleur’s offense in a huge game.