In many ways, the Green Bay Packers 2023 season was a success. Most importantly, for the future of the franchise, they found out that Jordan Love is indeed more than capable of being their next franchise quarterback. Additionally, in their first year without Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay improved on their previous season’s record, made the playoffs, and upset the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round.
The emergence of their Packers’ young pass catchers as one of the NFL’s deepest groups was also a pleasant surprise that many did not see coming. That being said, none of the Packers’ achievements this year came easily. They overcame many hurdles and, at times, looked downright awful before they figured it out.
One of the challenges they faced was the injury-plagued season of star running back Aaron Jones. After a fantastic game in Week 1 that saw him put up over 100 all-purpose yards and score two touchdowns, Jones missed the next few games with a strained hamstring.
Even when he returned from the hamstring injury, Jones did not look like himself. Then, he sprained his MCL in the Packers’ victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, which cost him a few more games. The loss of so many games led many to question Jones’ future with the team.
Aaron Jones set a Packers record to end the season
When Jones returned from his sprained knee, it was Week 16 and the Packers needed to win their final three regular-season games to qualify for the playoffs. They won all three (against the Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears) with Aaron Jones putting up 127, 120, and 111 rushing yards respectively.
Once in the playoffs, Jones ran for 118 yards (and three touchdowns) against the Dallas Cowboys and 108 yards in the Packers’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
It was the first time in the Packers’ 100+ year history that any player ran for 100 or more yards in five consecutive games.
Aaron Jones indicates he will be back with Green Bay next season
Jones’ run of five consecutive 100-yard games proved that he is still a vital part of the offense. Indeed, the Packers played on a higher level when he was on the field. Their success has convinced many that he will be back next season with a reworked contract to lower his $17 million salary cap hit.
Jones, too, seems to believe that he will be “back with the Pack” next season based on comments he made to Larry McCarren in an interview on the Packers’ website:
“I feel like what we’re building here is special. You can feel it. You can see it. The chemistry, the bond, the standard that we’ve set. I feel like with the standard we’ve set, we know what our expectations are when we come back next year. Our standard is high. We have no reason not to reach that standard every day because we’ve shown that we can do it this year, and we’ve shown we can do it game after game after game, we can put it together. I feel like we’re gonna be dangerous. We’re gonna be special.”
“We” is a great indicator that Jones plans on being back next season. If it were not so, he would have said “they” instead. Jones famously took a $5 million pay cut to remain with the team this season and it sounds like he will do whatever it takes to, once again, avoid being a cap casualty.
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