Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Packers keep Jones with $48 million deal
Green Bay — Before he reached the sideline, Aaron Jones slammed his mouthpiece on Lambeau Field’s frozen grass.
It was early in the first half of the NFC championship game, and the Green Bay Packers’ star running back had just done the unthinkable. Jones’ fumble set up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a shortfield touchdown and commanding 18point lead. Worse, perhaps, was what came after Jones lost the football.
Jones, a pillar of the NFL’s highestscoring offense last season, stayed on the ground before gingerly walking toward the sideline. He did not return because of a chest injury, an absence that was dearly felt as the Packers tried their fourth-quarter comeback. As the start of free agency loomed this week, it felt more and more like that slow walk off the field, that frustration, could be the final glimpse of Jones in a Packers uniform.
Instead, in their own bit of March Madness magic, the Packers pulled a buzzer beater March 14. General manager Brian Gutekunst re-signed Jones on a blockbuster deal 24 hours before the Pro Bowl running back would have been allowed to negotiate with other teams in free agency.
Four years, $48 million
Jones will sign a four-year, $48 million contract that includes a $13 million signing bonus, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed to PackersNews. ESPN was first to report the deal minutes after Jones sent a tweet indicating he was staying with the team that drafted him.
The deal will give Jones a chance to one day have a sweeter end to his Packers career.
“Let’s run it back,” Jones tweeted with a cheese emoji. He added a #GoPackGo hashtag.
Jones switched agents during last season, hiring Rosenhaus to negotiate his new contract. Rosenhaus made it clear the Packers’ star running back offered his team a hometown discount.
“We anticipated bigger offers in free agency,” Rosenhaus said, “but Aaron wanted to stay with the Packers.”
The four-year contract extends through Jones’ age-30 season. It’s uncertain how the rest of the contract is structured, but the deal signals a longer commitment days after the Packers chose not to place a one-year franchise tag on Jones.
Gutekunst has made clear since the start of this offseason his desire to keep Jones in his backfield.
“We would love to have Aaron back,” Gutekunst said after the season. “I think he’s such an important part of our offense this year, he’s a dynamic player. He’s absolutely everything we want in a professional football player, the way he goes about his business, the way he takes care of himself. He’s a great teammate. So we’d certainly like to bring him back.”
Deal in line with some of NFL’s top running backs
With a $12 million annual average salary, Jones pulls into a tie with Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon as the NFL’s sixth-highest paid running back. His average salary is $500,000 behind Tennessee’s Derrick Henry and $600,000 behind Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook. Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey ($16.015 million), New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara ($15 million) and Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott ($15 million) are the only other tailbacks paid more than Jones’ new deal.
The $13 million signing bonus is less than what Cook ($15.5 million) and Kamara ($15 million) received at signing. Cook and Kamara signed their extensions before the 2020 season.
Jones has become a pivotal playmaker in the Packers’ offense. The former fifth-round pick has blossomed into a Pro Bowler, scoring 30 touchdowns the past two seasons. In 2019, Jones reached 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career, recording 1,084. He followed that with 1,104 rushing yards last season.
After struggling with injuries in his first two seasons, Jones has shown durability. He has played in 34 of the Packers’ 36 games the past two seasons counting playoffs, missing only two last October after straining his calf.
Jones would have been one of the premier free agents on the open market when free agency begins later this week. Now, his future is with the Packers.
“I’m just glad I can keep playing where I started my career,” Jones said on his Instagram account.