Green Bay Packers: No Surprise—Aaron Jones Doesn’t Get Franchise Tag

This afternoon, the deadline for teams to utilize the franchise tag for the 2021 season came and went, and when it comes to the Green Bay Packers, that means they didn’t utilize the tag on Aaron Jones.

However, this should not come as much of a surprise to anyone. While GM Brian Gutekunst did leave the door open last week during his conversation with reporters, realistically, this was likely never in play.

For starters, all $8-$9 million that is owed to running backs on the franchise tag hits the books during the 2021 season. Since it is a one-year deal, there is no back-loading or moving of money around to lessen the cap hit this season—it all has to be recognized.

This on its own made it very unlikely that the Green Bay Packers were going to utilize it, given that they still sit about $11.5 million over the projected salary cap and have to be under by next week when the new league year begins.

Really the only way that the franchise tag may have been in play was if Green Bay thought they could then trade Jones. That, of course, comes with some risk if they are unable to find a trade partner, and they’d still have to recognize that cap hit immediately—putting them even further over the projected cap than what they already are.

As important as Jones has been to this offense, as we’ve seen over the years, paying a running back top-dollar isn’t a requirement for winning. In fact, it’s encouraged that teams don’t open the checkbook to pay running backs with the position becoming quite replaceable.

While losing Jones hurts given what he brings both as a ball carrier and as a pass-catcher, the Green Bay Packers didn’t spend a second-round pick on AJ Dillon for nothing and they will likely look for a complementary back in the draft—or perhaps free agency for the right price.

The Packers and Jones have been in contract talks for over a year now, dating back to February of 2020 when the first report came out at the Combine. Although nothing was ever completed, I would venture to say that there was a better chance of an extension taking place than the franchise tag considering the ability it would have given Green Bay to lower the cap hit in 2021 and spreading it out over the remaining years of the deal.

If you’re holding out hope for Jones to stick around, Adam Schefter of ESPN did just report that Green Bay is still trying to sign him before free agency opens. But take that as you will, given that as I already mentioned, we’ve heard those rumors for over a year now.

At least on the surface, all signs point to Jones playing elsewhere in 2021—which, again, isn’t much of a surprise.

Looking ahead, unless something drastic changes over the next week, the Green Bay Packers will now be tasked with finding Jones’ replacement and restocking the running back room that may also be losing Jamaal Williams.