The Green Bay Packers will host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, and that means it’s a homecoming for Aaron Jones. Jones is in his second season with the Vikings after being released by Green Bay in March 2024. While he was instrumental in their path to a 14-win season a year ago, he still has fondness for his time with the Packers, including the opportunity to do the world-famous Lambeau Leap.
Jones was vocal about doing the Lambeau Leap if he scored a touchdown during his first trip as a visitor last season. While he eventually got to do one, it didn’t come after a touchdown, making Jones hungrier to find the end zone when the Vikings visit on Sunday.
“I think I'm more excited about it than I was last year because I didn’t get in (the end zone) last year. So it’s definitely something,” Jones said during Wednesday’s press conference. “I gotta smell the end zone. Find a way to make it happen one way or another and then get my leap in (during the game) instead of after (the game) this time.”
Normally, this would be seen as a threat by the opposing player to troll the Packers. But Jones’ history shows that this is an example of why he’s still a Packer at heart.
Aaron Jones’s Packers Roots Still Run Deep Ahead Lambeau Field Return
While Jones crossed the border shortly after his release, he didn’t do it with the same animosity that Brett Favre or Greg Jennings did years before. Jones enjoyed his time in Green Bay and even reiterated the fondness for the fans that made him feel welcome during his eight seasons with the team in a piece for The Players' Tribune.
“It wasn’t just my teammates who made me feel seen in Green Bay – it was our fans, too,” Jones wrote last September. “Especially in those first few years when I was trying to make my name in the league. I think people started to notice that good things would happen when I had the ball, and they wanted me to be more involved. So they started tweeting with the hashtag #FREEAARONJONES. I know it’s just a hashtag, but I won’t lie, that was cool. Every time I saw it in my mentions, it reassured me I wasn’t going unnoticed. Our fans understood how hard I was working to make things happen, and I fed off that.”
It’s those feelings that made Jones a fan favorite during his time in Green Bay. He ranks third in franchise history with 5,940 rushing yards and, more importantly, fourth all-time with 45 rushing touchdowns, including 27 TDs as a home player at Lambeau Field.
It’s also why Jones was focused on hitting the Packers’ trademark celebration as a member of the Vikings on his return trip.
“If you’re not thinking about the end zone, you’re thinking about the wrong thing,” Jones said via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “I’m definitely leaping up there. Hopefully there’s a Vikings fan in one of (the end zones) so I can jump up to them.”
The Packers made sure that didn’t happen during last year’s game as Jones had 22 carries for 93 yards. But he still got to do the celebration with some Vikings fans after Minnesota won 31-29. It shows how deep his roots run from his time in Green Bay but also gives the Packers the motivation to keep him out of the end zone – and the stands – during Sunday’s game.