Green Bay Packers fans can admit it: losing Aaron Jones was tough. For the first seven years of his NFL career, Jones was a mainstay in the Packers' backfield. Over 97 games (85 starts), Jones ran for almost 6,000 yards and scored 63 total touchdowns.
While in Green Bay, he once led the league in rushing touchdowns (16 in 2019) and yards per attempt (5.5 in 2018). He played in at least 12 games in every season, made a Pro Bowl in 2020, and rushed for over 1,000 yards three times in a four-year span from 2019-2022.
He also became something of a fan favorite within Green Bay. So when it became obvious that he and the team were headed in different directions, there was an overwhelming sense of sad acceptance - for most modern running backs, seven great years on one team is about all you can expect.
And then, because football is a very cruel sport sometimes, Jones signed with the Vikings. It was a tough pill to swallow, even with the Packers "replacing" him with Josh Jacobs, arguably the second-best available running back free agent on the market.
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Yet, 75% of the way through the Packers' first season without Jones since 2016 and the decision to let him walk looks ... great? Terrific? Like one of the best moves of the offseason? Because the Vikings now have a very real Aaron Jones problem, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
Aaron Jones' ball security issues are a problem the Packers luckily don't have to deal with
Ball security has never been a part of Jones' game. He'll go into next week's game with 20 career fumbles, and only Washington's Austin Ekeler has more fumbles (23) since Jones was drafted.
And it gets worse: of Jones' five fumbles this season, four of them have come in the last three games. Minnesota's somehow managed to win all three of those games (sigh), but still – as they say, ball security is job security, and it's maybe not a coincidence that Jones had his lowest snap count since Week 5 in the Vikings' win over Arizona on Sunday.
So sentimentality aside (it is the NFL after all), the Packers are probably more than happy to watch Jones finish his career as the Vikings' RB2 while Jacobs has his best season since he was a First Team All-Pro back in 2022. This is what third-place teams have to tell themselves, at least.