Former Packers star running back Jones heading to Vikings
A popular former Green Bay Packers player is ending up with the Minnesota Vikings. Packers fans have felt that sort of discomfort before.
One day after Green Bay released running back Aaron Jones, the veteran ball-carrier reportedly landed a oneyear deal with the NFC North rivals to the west, worth $7 million.
Jones, a member of the Packers the past seven seasons, was entering the final year of his four-year deal, one scheduled to pay him a base salary of $11 million plus a per-game roster bonus worth a maximum of $258,824 and a workout bonus of $500,000.
The Packers met with Jones’ agent Drew Rosenhaus in hopes of reducing his cap number and bringing him back in 2024, but instead he’ll likely be facing off with the Packers twice next season.
Green Bay, meanwhile, signed former Raiders All-Pro Josh Jacobs, 26, who’s three years younger than Jones.
Jones, who scored three touchdowns against Dallas in the playoffs after seeing action in 11 games during the regular season, rushed for 656 yards and two touchdowns last season, and caught 30 passes for 233 yards and another score. He has three seasons under his belt in which he cleared 1,000 yards rushing, including in 2019 when he led the league with 16 touchdowns.
It’s not exactly analogous to Brett Favre joining the Vikings in the 2009 season, though it continues a recent trend of popular Packers players leaving for NFC North rivals, including Marcedes Lewis (to the Bears in 2023), Robert Tonyan (Bears in 2023), Jamaal Williams (Lions in 2021-22) and Za’Darius Smith (Vikings in 2022).