Packers Reportedly Offered Aaron Jones Top-5 RB Money but were Turned Down

Remember about a month ago when news broke that Aaron Jones was looking for a new agent? Well, apparently, that decision came on the heels of the Green Bay Packers offering him a contract that would have made him one of the top-5 highest-paid running backs in the NFL. However, Jones would turn that deal down.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, while the overall figures of the contract may have looked good, the lack of guaranteed money was the deal breaker for Jones:

"“The Packers had a deal on the table that would have made Jones among the top five highest-paid backs in the league, but that was in terms of average per year. The big guaranteed money was missing. So Jones turned it down and then opted to change agents, hiring Drew Rosenhaus.”"

The lack of guaranteed money in the deal means that this was likely a team-friendly contract for the Green Bay Packers. Guaranteed money, which is paid out as a signing bonus, allows the team to spread the cap hit of those dollars out over the life of the contract rather than incurring that hit in one year. The more guaranteed money that there is, the more dead cap there is in the later years of the contract, which can make it more difficult for a team to move on from a player.

With uncertainty around the salary cap in 2021, this was likely a heavily back-loaded deal, as many are in Green Bay, but with “the big guaranteed money missing,” as Demovsky put it, it would make it much easier for the Packers to move on from Jones in Years 3 and 4 of the deal; thus leaving money on the table.

Understandably, with the running back’s window to make money so small, Jones is trying to capitalize on his first non-rookie deal that will likely be the biggest contract that he receives in his career. And, of course, there is the fact that Jones has also been an integral part of this Green Bay Packers’ offense and developed into one of the NFL’s top backs–so he wants to be paid as such.

In 2019, Jones totaled 1,084 rushing yards along with another 474 through the air and 19 total touchdowns. Although this season didn’t come with the same notoriety, Jones had another equally impressive year with 1,104 rushing yards, 355 through the air, and 11 touchdowns while missing two games.

Jones is a weapon out of the backfield, in the passing game, both out wide and in the slot, and he can hold his own as a pass-blocker as well. To put it simply, this offense is just different when he’s on the field, and while Jamaal Williams and AJ Dillon are two good running backs in their own right, neither is Aaron Jones.

Since this contract offer has taken place, Jones has hired Drew Rosenhaus to be his agent, and reportedly, contract talks between he and the Green Bay Packers are still ongoing. But the big question still remains, with the uncertainty around the salary cap along with the unwillingness around the league to pay running backs, will Russ Ball and Brian Gutekunst budge from their previous offer?