Getty Aaron Jones on the sideline during the Packers' preseason game against the New England Patriots on August 19, 2023.
Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones appears to be nearly out of the woods with the hamstring injury that’s plagued him for the first month-plus of the regular season.
The 28-year-old has been limited since it occurred in the September 10 opener against the Chicago Bears. He caught a fourth-down pass from Jordan Love and scampered upfield for a 35-yard score. As he crossed the goal line, he grabbed the back of his thigh in pain.
The touchdown, albeit boosting the Packers’ lead over the Bears to three scores, came with a price. Jones was held out of the following two games before returning for just 20 offensive snaps on September 28 against the Detroit Lions. All indications pointed toward the team’s training staff gradually easing him back into action, as evidenced by him touching the ball just six times that night.
Jones Aggravated His Hamstring During Practice
Just as he appeared to be kicking the training wheels off ahead of a primetime bout with the Las Vegas Raiders on October 9, he aggravated the injury two days prior in practice.
“It was an isolated incident, I know exactly what happened and what I was doing,” recalled Jones on Wednesday, October 18, admitting that he wasn’t 100% when he over-stretched for a ball in the end zone.
“I probably shouldn’t have been doing that. But if you put me on that field, I’m going to try and get that ball.”
Jones said that he feels better now than at any point while managing the injury, inciting optimism that the Packers could have him back at their disposal for Sunday’s road tilt versus the Denver Broncos. However, he added the caveat that he felt the same way during that Saturday practice before tweaking the hamstring. He was able to run on Sunday despite the setback, but Jones believes that keeping him shelved against the Raiders was necessary and proved to be beneficial for his recovery.
“Sometimes you gotta protect the athlete from the athlete,” he said.
It’s impossible to overstate the impact a healthy tailback of Jones’ caliber will have on the Packers’ struggling offense. He’s their most valued skill position player, both as a running back and as a receiving threat out of the backfield. It’s why both sides — Jones and the Packers’ medical staff — are going to continue to err on the side of caution until he’s capable of handling a full workload, or at least something close to it, as frustrating as it is.
It may be tempting to throw a full complement of snaps at Jones this Sunday. The Broncos sport the league’s worst rushing defense — they’re allowing an average of 172.3 yards per game on the ground and they’re the only team in the league to surrender over 1,000 rushing yards through the first six weeks — so the prospect of Jones’ rushing output could prompt the Packers to weaponize him.
“It’s never about me, it’s about the guys in this locker room and how can I help them even though I’m going through this? How can I help them? How can I help my team? I know in God’s time, I’ll be able to get back out there and help my team the way I really want to. It’s killing me because I can’t physically go you there on the field and do what I do and help them and have that impact. It’s definitely frustrating from that aspect.
“God’s timing — everything happens for a reason. When I get back out there, I’m ready.”
Packers Need Jones to Uplift a Below-Average Rushing Attack
The Packers have leaned on the services of AJ Dillon in the meantime, but he hasn’t been able to shoulder the load as efficiently as the team would have hoped. He’s coming off of his best performance of the season against the Raiders, but that isn’t saying much; he carried the ball 20 times for 76 yards and a touchdown. Dillon has led a backfield consisting of Patrick Taylor Jr., who was released this past week, and preseason rushing leader Emanuel Wilson.
With their combined efforts, the Packers have formed one of the league’s worst rushing offenses. Only two teams have rushed for fewer yards than the Packers and five are averaging fewer rushing yards per game.
That’s not entirely the fault of Dillon, Taylor or Wilson. The reality is that a good portion of the team’s run calls are doomed before they even have the chance to begin due to the porous blocking up front. The Packers could have Barry Sanders taking hand-offs from Love — it just wouldn’t matter unless their zone-blocking scheme is executed properly.
James Robinson, a former 1,000-yard rusher, signed to the Packers’ practice squad on Tuesday, October 17. Taylor had exhausted all of his game-day elevations and his promotion to the 53-man roster was short-lived. The Packers had just two healthy running backs on their active roster and practice squad between Dillon and Wilson, so a move needed to be made to bolster the backfield.
Robinson was an undrafted free agent whose rookie campaign in 2020 was magnificent. His 1,070 rushing yards were just 34 yards shy of Dominic Rhodes’ rookie free-agent record for a single season, but the 1,414 yards he tallied from scrimmage stands alone as a league record.