Aaron Jones strongly refutes idea Packers are rebuilding

Running back Aaron Jones continues to express confidence in the 2023 Green Bay Packers even though Jordan Love has replaced Aaron Rodgers as the team's starting quarterback. 

"We’ve got everything we need here," Jones said about the roster early into organized team activities, per Zach Kruse of Packers Wire/USA Today. "If you think we’re in a rebuild, you’ve got the wrong team, the wrong place. We know it’s going to take all 11 and we’ll have to depend on each other in all phases, but we’re hungry, we’re ready to prove a lot of people wrong. We know what people are saying. Everybody has an opinion and most of them stink." 

Jones insisted earlier in May that Love, an unproven 2020 first-round draft pick with 83 regular-season passes on his NFL résumé, has already won the "full trust" of teammates as Green Bay's QB1. The 28-year-old ball-carrier later made it known he enjoys that the Packers are "being slept on" this spring. 

The 2022 Packers entered Week 18 this past January with Rodgers atop the depth chart and a chance to secure a playoff berth via a victory at home over the Detroit Lions. Green Bay instead fell 20-16 in what proved to be Rodgers' final game before the club traded him to the New York Jets last month. 

"It’s a fresh start, fresh season," Jones said of the new-look Packers. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Packers as the largest betting underdogs at +500 odds to win the NFC North this season. To compare, the Lions were the favorites at that time at +130 odds. 

Nevertheless, All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon also doesn't want to hear a certain word regarding the Packers. 

"Nobody in this locker room thinks of it as a rebuild," Nixon explained. "This isn’t a rebuild. We are coming to win now." 

Individuals associated with the Packers such as quarterbacks coach Tom Clements are preaching patience as it pertains to Love, but it sounds like teammates believe the 24-year-old is ready to do more than just compete as the franchise's offensive CEO this fall.