Aaron Jones - prepping to get paid

[BF004]

To resign Jones at a number that makes sense for us, I think we need to let him test FA first for a week. I think we’ll end up paying a premium to not let him hit the market.

[Scott4Pack]

Another way that I'm looking at this is, what would we do if we had Barry Sanders in his prime? The guy was the best RB in a long time. But he didn't max out his contracts, preferring to stay in Detroit. (I have no idea why.)

If Jones is willing to take a home town deal, I think it's a no-brainer to keep him. You just can't turn away from a guy who makes 20 TDs in a season, even if he's likely to dip to a dozen or so (and he probably will). This guy makes our offense come alive. You can't let that go.

[Yoop]

To resign Jones at a number that makes sense for us, I think we need to let him test FA first for a week. I think we’ll end up paying a premium to not let him hit the market.

with the way teams are turning to small ball, and uptempo offense, Jones will receive the bid up war, if we let him hit UFA Jones is gone or we'll pay more to keep him.

this idea that RB's should be let go after there rookie contract, has always had more to do with the position having a short shelf life, then it ever did because the good ones are easily replaceable, usually there used up, thats one reason Jones has more value, he isn't, I'd imagine there will be a few teams interested in Jones.

[Madcity_matt]

I would hate to lose him, but in the current state of things you're better to let a good RB walk vs muck up your cap for several years. IMO, we should be drafting a RB every year that fits the zone scheme we run. It's my understanding that the scheme makes it easier to plug and play (not diminishing Jones obvious talent)

[Drj820]

lots of people mentioning how RBs typically dont perform in their second contract...
thats not untrue. But most of those guys that get huge deals were like Zeke and Saquon...they were the starter from day one in the league and they had been pounded on every game since they came in the league. Not so much for Jones. His coach hated him his first two years in the league, he had high usage his third. He did seem to be injury prone early on, but seemed to get stronger and managed last year pretty well. If he has another huge year in 2020, im not just assuming we can replace him with some guy in the draft. Jones was a steal for TT, and TT should be commended for the pick. Not TTs fault MM was stubborn and hated Jones. In a way, that could have been what cost MM his job.

My preference would be to pay him NOW for a bout three years. Get him for less than he would go for if he got to FA, but the trade off for him is he gets paid now instead of taking the risk of waiting. I think he is going to be a stud for the next three seasons. I wouldnt want to wait another year, then give him like a four year deal. I dont think he has the body type to hold up well once he loses a step.

Edit: i know because of our cap situation right now, paying him today would be impossible, but that would have been my plan and preference for him.

[Yoop]

lots of people mentioning how RBs typically dont perform in their second contract...
thats not untrue. But most of those guys that get huge deals were like Zeke and Saquon...they were the starter from day one in the league and they had been pounded on every game since they came in the league. Not so much for Jones. His coach hated him his first two years in the league, he had high usage his third. He did seem to be injury prone early on, but seemed to get stronger and managed last year pretty well. If he has another huge year in 2020, im not just assuming we can replace him with some guy in the draft. Jones was a steal for TT, and TT should be commended for the pick. Not TTs fault MM was stubborn and hated Jones. In a way, that could have been what cost MM his job.

My preference would be to pay him NOW for a bout three years. Get him for less than he would go for if he got to FA, but the trade off for him is he gets paid now instead of taking the risk of waiting. I think he is going to be a stud for the next three seasons. I wouldnt want to wait another year, then give him like a four year deal. I dont think he has the body type to hold up well once he loses a step.

Edit: i know because of our cap situation right now, paying him today would be impossible, but that would have been my plan and preference for him.

I don't think McCarthy hated Jones per se, he just felt why bother to run the ball when ya have a guy like Rodgers, as he even said, we run the ball to force the defense to play more base sets so we can take advantage of more 1 on 1 match ups, hard to blame him for that.

even last year we only gave Jones about 20 touches on average so even that is not a lot.

I agree get him signed now to a fair contract, Jones has a lot of what teams want, speed, allusiveness , power, while not big, Jones is really hard to bring down, plus he's shown to be formidable as a receiver, the better question is,who wouldn't pay 10 mil per for that.

lis, you'll pay more then that gambling to replace his production on any draft pick, heck no one here should bat a eye if we had taken Jones in round one, he's lived up to a billing like that, and certainly would have had he played his first 2 seasons under Matt Lafluer.

people need to forget this stuff about RB a bit when it comes to a guy like Jones, and think more along the lines of production, if so, then does it really matter where that production comes from? it shouldn't.

[Drj820]

lots of people mentioning how RBs typically dont perform in their second contract...
thats not untrue. But most of those guys that get huge deals were like Zeke and Saquon...they were the starter from day one in the league and they had been pounded on every game since they came in the league. Not so much for Jones. His coach hated him his first two years in the league, he had high usage his third. He did seem to be injury prone early on, but seemed to get stronger and managed last year pretty well. If he has another huge year in 2020, im not just assuming we can replace him with some guy in the draft. Jones was a steal for TT, and TT should be commended for the pick. Not TTs fault MM was stubborn and hated Jones. In a way, that could have been what cost MM his job.

My preference would be to pay him NOW for a bout three years. Get him for less than he would go for if he got to FA, but the trade off for him is he gets paid now instead of taking the risk of waiting. I think he is going to be a stud for the next three seasons. I wouldnt want to wait another year, then give him like a four year deal. I dont think he has the body type to hold up well once he loses a step.

Edit: i know because of our cap situation right now, paying him today would be impossible, but that would have been my plan and preference for him.

I don't think McCarthy hated Jones per se, he just felt why bother to run the ball when ya have a guy like Rodgers, as he even said, we run the ball to force the defense to play more base sets so we can take advantage of more 1 on 1 match ups, hard to blame him for that.

even last year we only gave Jones about 20 touches on average so even that is not a lot.

I agree get him signed now to a fair contract, Jones has a lot of what teams want, speed, allusiveness , power, while not big, Jones is really hard to bring down, plus he's shown to be formidable as a receiver, the better question is,who wouldn't pay 10 mil per for that.

lis, you'll pay more then that gambling to replace his production on any draft pick, heck no one here should bat a eye if we had taken Jones in round one, he's lived up to a billing like that, and certainly would have had he played his first 2 seasons under Matt Lafluer.

people need to forget this stuff about RB a bit when it comes to a guy like Jones, and think more along the lines of production, if so, then does it really matter where that production comes from? it shouldn't.

Well i agree with you fully about Jones being a bit of a different case because he doesnt have the wear and tear most elite backs have that are lookign for a second deal.

But i think MM hated Jones. He trashed him after his weed suspension, publicly bashed him in his little speech about how RBs have to be able to do more than run the ball to see the field, and was never smart enough to adapt to a back like Jones who can catch. Its possible he didnt hate him, he just wasnt smart enough to figure out to use this skill set. I said in Jones second year that he could be our kamara, all my friends laughed at me. This last year with a different coach, he magically looked even better than kamara.

Before you get the wrong idea, im not a MM hater overall. I think he did many good things in his tenure, and was a good coach for a long time in GB. But the way he made players fit into his vision for what he wanted to do, instead of designing a game plan around players skill sets, with the intention of getting the most out of what they were already talented at...was infuriating. Jones was prime example of this.

[texas]

I vote to tag him, hands down. Easy decision.

+1 to the remark about having to start Alex Green. Minus Lacy for one year, we haven't had a RB like this since Ahman Green.

That being said, if you want to find another Jones, just go get fast guys, or SPARQ or whatever that metric is. That's what Jones was good at. I feel like TT/MM would purposely try to find slow and plodding RBs.

[Yoop]

lots of people mentioning how RBs typically dont perform in their second contract...
thats not untrue. But most of those guys that get huge deals were like Zeke and Saquon...they were the starter from day one in the league and they had been pounded on every game since they came in the league. Not so much for Jones. His coach hated him his first two years in the league, he had high usage his third. He did seem to be injury prone early on, but seemed to get stronger and managed last year pretty well. If he has another huge year in 2020, im not just assuming we can replace him with some guy in the draft. Jones was a steal for TT, and TT should be commended for the pick. Not TTs fault MM was stubborn and hated Jones. In a way, that could have been what cost MM his job.

My preference would be to pay him NOW for a bout three years. Get him for less than he would go for if he got to FA, but the trade off for him is he gets paid now instead of taking the risk of waiting. I think he is going to be a stud for the next three seasons. I wouldnt want to wait another year, then give him like a four year deal. I dont think he has the body type to hold up well once he loses a step.

Edit: i know because of our cap situation right now, paying him today would be impossible, but that would have been my plan and preference for him.

I don't think McCarthy hated Jones per se, he just felt why bother to run the ball when ya have a guy like Rodgers, as he even said, we run the ball to force the defense to play more base sets so we can take advantage of more 1 on 1 match ups, hard to blame him for that.

even last year we only gave Jones about 20 touches on average so even that is not a lot.

I agree get him signed now to a fair contract, Jones has a lot of what teams want, speed, allusiveness , power, while not big, Jones is really hard to bring down, plus he's shown to be formidable as a receiver, the better question is,who wouldn't pay 10 mil per for that.

lis, you'll pay more then that gambling to replace his production on any draft pick, heck no one here should bat a eye if we had taken Jones in round one, he's lived up to a billing like that, and certainly would have had he played his first 2 seasons under Matt Lafluer.

people need to forget this stuff about RB a bit when it comes to a guy like Jones, and think more along the lines of production, if so, then does it really matter where that production comes from? it shouldn't.

Well i agree with you fully about Jones being a bit of a different case because he doesnt have the wear and tear most elite backs have that are lookign for a second deal.

But i think MM hated Jones. He trashed him after his weed suspension, publicly bashed him in his little speech about how RBs have to be able to do more than run the ball to see the field, and was never smart enough to adapt to a back like Jones who can catch. Its possible he didnt hate him, he just wasnt smart enough to figure out to use this skill set. I said in Jones second year that he could be our kamara, all my friends laughed at me. This last year with a different coach, he magically looked even better than kamara.

Before you get the wrong idea, im not a MM hater overall. I think he did many good things in his tenure, and was a good coach for a long time in GB. But the way he made players fit into his vision for what he wanted to do, instead of designing a game plan around players skill sets, with the intention of getting the most out of what they were already talented at...was infuriating. Jones was prime example of this.

seemed to me McCarthy wanted to run to set up to pass, and run to burn clock closing out games, he had a hell of a good run blocking set of Guards, yet kept Lacy on a touch count, just as he's done with every RB he had, I expect to keep them fresh to burn that clock and preserve a win, with that attitude why spend a 2nd round pick on a guy like Lacy.

[salmar80]

I think MM criminally underused Aaron Jones year 2, but people forget Jones did not come out of the draft as a finished product. He was utter trash at pass pro as a rookie and didn't do much as a receiver either. Williams was the more well-rounded but unexciting ready-to-play option.

To his credit, Jones worked on his weak points diligently and became the RB he is now.

I kinda expect us to do what [mention]texas[/mention] mentioned: Tag Jones after this season, take a swing at a athletic RB prospect in the draft. Plus we have Dexter Williams as a wild card - we had zero need for him in 2019. If Jones could work on his weaknesses, others could too.

[Yoop]

ehhhhhh, imho the reason Jones was a 5th rounder had to do with straight line speed, height, and injury issues, other wise he did everything quite well, he may have had a bit of a learning curve to satisfy McCarthy concerning pass pro, or as a receiver, but this dog was ready to run right out of the gate, however he was used more then I thought at UTEP, which in itself is another reason he was a mid round pick, if he had went to a major program he would have had more exposure and went much higher in the draft, and why I say he will be harder to replace then people think.

One of the most productive running backs in all of college football, Aaron Jones rushed for 1,773 yards and 17 touchdowns while averaging 7.7 yards per carry. Jones is a quicker-than-fast running back with good vision and home run ability. He is excellent at getting what is blocked for him and can make tacklers miss in the open field. He showed off his lateral quickness at the combine, running the three-cone in 6.82 seconds, which put him in the 86th percentile. Jones can be used between the tackles or on the outside, as well as in the receiving game. He has good vision both in the open field and at the line of scrimmage. He is only 5'9", but at 208 pounds, Jones is a compact back who can push the pile. He runs with great effort and leg drive, never giving up on the play and consistently getting hidden yardage. On top of his skills between the tackles, on the outside and receiving, Jones also holds his own in pass protection. He has all the tools to develop into a three-down back. If there is a Day 3 sleeper in this class who can develop into a starter, it's Jones.



also, as with last year with us, Jones accounted for over 50% of UTEP's offensive production.

[Drj820]

I don't think McCarthy hated Jones per se, he just felt why bother to run the ball when ya have a guy like Rodgers, as he even said, we run the ball to force the defense to play more base sets so we can take advantage of more 1 on 1 match ups, hard to blame him for that.

even last year we only gave Jones about 20 touches on average so even that is not a lot.

I agree get him signed now to a fair contract, Jones has a lot of what teams want, speed, allusiveness , power, while not big, Jones is really hard to bring down, plus he's shown to be formidable as a receiver, the better question is,who wouldn't pay 10 mil per for that.

lis, you'll pay more then that gambling to replace his production on any draft pick, heck no one here should bat a eye if we had taken Jones in round one, he's lived up to a billing like that, and certainly would have had he played his first 2 seasons under Matt Lafluer.

people need to forget this stuff about RB a bit when it comes to a guy like Jones, and think more along the lines of production, if so, then does it really matter where that production comes from? it shouldn't.

Well i agree with you fully about Jones being a bit of a different case because he doesnt have the wear and tear most elite backs have that are lookign for a second deal.

But i think MM hated Jones. He trashed him after his weed suspension, publicly bashed him in his little speech about how RBs have to be able to do more than run the ball to see the field, and was never smart enough to adapt to a back like Jones who can catch. Its possible he didnt hate him, he just wasnt smart enough to figure out to use this skill set. I said in Jones second year that he could be our kamara, all my friends laughed at me. This last year with a different coach, he magically looked even better than kamara.

Before you get the wrong idea, im not a MM hater overall. I think he did many good things in his tenure, and was a good coach for a long time in GB. But the way he made players fit into his vision for what he wanted to do, instead of designing a game plan around players skill sets, with the intention of getting the most out of what they were already talented at...was infuriating. Jones was prime example of this.

seemed to me McCarthy wanted to run to set up to pass, and run to burn clock closing out games, he had a hell of a good run blocking set of Guards, yet kept Lacy on a touch count, just as he's done with every RB he had, I expect to keep them fresh to burn that clock and preserve a win, with that attitude why spend a 2nd round pick on a guy like Lacy.

Yeah i mean lets just say you are right...it had nothing to do with liking Jones, his under use was purely based on philosophy. I can see that and wouldnt even argue with you on that. But if we are agreeing on that, we have to just say MM was an idiot then. An idiot that won lots of games when the offensive roster was amazing for his gameplan. But when he got different types of talent, and started losing talent in areas that he would need to have talent to run his system, he couldnt adjust at all. I mean if you tell me we gave him Lacy in round 2 (who was really good rb, just for a very short amount of time), and you gave him Jones..and his WRs declined in talent throughout his tenure, and he STILL insisted on pass, pass, pass..ignore the talent in the back field, pass, pass, pass...thats cool, but its no surprise he got fired and even though i thought it was time to fire him then, well now everytime i think about it i think he deserves it even more.

[NCF]

I kinda expect us to do what @texas mentioned: Tag Jones after this season, take a swing at a athletic RB prospect in the draft. Plus we have Dexter Williams as a wild card - we had zero need for him in 2019. If Jones could work on his weaknesses, others could too.

I just don't understand this approach. "Don't pay RB's." Yet, a one year franchise tag is going to be far more prohibitive in the short-term than a reasonable 3-4 deal. I am much more inclined to do the extension now to keep the total cost down than I am to sit on his rookie number this year only to parlay that into a roughly 1,000% increase the following year.

[YoHoChecko]

I kinda expect us to do what @texas mentioned: Tag Jones after this season, take a swing at a athletic RB prospect in the draft. Plus we have Dexter Williams as a wild card - we had zero need for him in 2019. If Jones could work on his weaknesses, others could too.

I just don't understand this approach. "Don't pay RB's." Yet, a one year franchise tag is going to be far more prohibitive in the short-term than a reasonable 3-4 deal. I am much more inclined to do the extension now to keep the total cost down than I am to sit on his rookie number this year only to parlay that into a roughly 1,000% increase the following year.

Because "don't pay RBs" isn't a short-term looking philosophy. The reason you don't pay RBs is because they're fairly replaceable and it's a position with limited durability and a short shelf life. If you pay a guy on a 3-4 year deal and do anything to backload or keep the short term costs down, and he breaks down in years 1 or 2 of the deal, you end up stuck with a hefty contract and dead money. A 1-year expenditure is tough to swallow, but at least when it's done, you're free and clear.

I'm not in favor of franchising him, but I am in favor of waiting until next year to decide. I am in favor of taking one of the following backs: Antonio Gibson, Eno Benjamin, Jamycal Hasty, or Lavante Bellamy (in order of preference) in this year's draft. I am in favor of seeing if we can replace Jones with Dexter Williams and the draft pick. If we aren't confident, I'd prefer a franchise tag year over an extension, and try again to replace him in next year's draft.

Franchise is a good plan b if you don't want to commit long term, but you feel like the attempts to prepare for his departure weren't up to par.

[Packfntk]

I am always in favor of addressing contracts ahead of time if it is a key cog in your system. However, that logic goes out the window for me with RB's unless you have Zeke, or CMC. Jones is pretty dynamic, but he is not one of those guys. I wait on his contract for now, see how this year plays out, and address it next offseason. Hell, if he is a world beater, address it midseason I guess, if you feel you cannot live without that player.

But yeah, paying crazy money for RB's is a fools game, you get burned more than you succeed.

[BF004]

I kinda expect us to do what @texas mentioned: Tag Jones after this season, take a swing at a athletic RB prospect in the draft. Plus we have Dexter Williams as a wild card - we had zero need for him in 2019. If Jones could work on his weaknesses, others could too.

I just don't understand this approach. "Don't pay RB's." Yet, a one year franchise tag is going to be far more prohibitive in the short-term than a reasonable 3-4 deal. I am much more inclined to do the extension now to keep the total cost down than I am to sit on his rookie number this year only to parlay that into a roughly 1,000% increase the following year.

I feel like Jones will be pushing more like 36 million over 3 to stop hitting FA. Franchise tag should be around $10 if not under.

If you can get Jones for 2 years for 16 million like Melvin Gordon just got, then absolutely.

[NCF]

I feel like Jones will be pushing more like 36 million over 3 to stop hitting FA. Franchise tag should be around $10 if not under.

If you can get Jones for 2 years for 16 million like Melvin Gordon just got, then absolutely.

I think if you do it NOW, it would be closer to the Melvin Gordon/Austin Eckler deals and I would do that. I think if we wait, then possibly you are right.

[Packfntk]

I feel like Jones will be pushing more like 36 million over 3 to stop hitting FA.

That just made me want to throw up.

[Yoop]

I feel like Jones will be pushing more like 36 million over 3 to stop hitting FA. Franchise tag should be around $10 if not under.

If you can get Jones for 2 years for 16 million like Melvin Gordon just got, then absolutely.

I think if you do it NOW, it would be closer to the Melvin Gordon/Austin Eckler deals and I would do that. I think if we wait, then possibly you are right.

I don't think Jones is so easily replaceable in any round, obviously top 20 picks the odds improve but that not where we pick usually in fact we've only had several top 20 picks in the last couple decades, anyone later, and the odds get worse.

I've seen a lot of RB's rotate through Packer land, lis Jones is on the level production wise as any we've had in many years, and really thats all I care about, production is what matters, moving the chains, scoring points, and Jones is really good at that, I'd go 3 for 30 in a new york minute, make 18 guaranteed, and a negociating clause with year 3.
Jones has been healthy, and a Rookie could have A career ender just as easily as Jones, this RB injury stuff is valid, but Jones doesn't look old at all for a guy going into year 4.

we have to consider, with just a bit more of using Jones as a receiver, his production could easily sky rocket, we could be seeing 2000 yrd production seasons from this guy, the odds of replacing that with another drafted RB in the 2nd or later round has got to be terrible, we where very lucky with Jones, lis, put him in a top college program and Jones wouldn't have been sitting around in round 5.

DrJ. I can see why McCarthy used the run as he did, not saying I agree with his idea of limiting the use, in fact I was very vocal here when he limited Lacy the 2nd season to 14.7 touches a game.

I also think Rodgers may have had some input, and McCarthy obviously would have paid attention to it, specially back then when we had very good receiver talent, heck Rodgers was really hot and threading the needle, I expect I'd have probably done the same thing McCarthy did, only so many snaps in a game, and it's hard to satisfy all the players.

seems whenever we get a decent RB up to speed, there gone shortly later, or they balloon up to the weight of a DT, I'd just like to keep this one around a few more years.

[JKB]

Easy decision, Tag him, AR has a small window...