Running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon have spent the last four years together with the Green Bay Packers, though one or both could be on the way out come season’s end.
Matt Schneidman of The Athletic authored a mailbag on Thursday, December 7, in which he discussed the futures of both players. Based on Schneidman’s answers, Dillon is more replaceable and thus less likely to be back in green and gold in 2024.
Dillon has proven to be a solid No. 2 running back, but he’s not quite your prototypical feature back. The Packers can find a new No. 2 for cheaper through the draft and potentially have that guy sit behind Jones on the depth chart for a year before taking over lead-back duties in 2025.
Dillon has certainly looked better lately compared to early in the season, but he might have had to establish himself as a bonafide No. 1 back to earn a contract extension and that hasn’t, and won’t, happen.
There remains the possibility, however, that the Packers move on from Jones, re-sign Dillon to a one-year deal and draft someone early to sit behind or share carries with Dillon. But Dillon and his camp might want a multiyear deal, which the Packers might not be willing to give.
AJ Dillon Has Done Less to Prove Value to Packers than Aaron Jones
In Dillon’s case, the Packers must gauge how much they’d have to pay and for how long against the type of production they can reasonably expect from the RB. That value judgment must be set against the exact same equation for rookies Green Bay could acquire in the mid- or late-rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft.
For Jones, the issue is more about how much the Packers can save by cutting or trading him, how much his absence would truly hurt the run game given his age and recent injury concerns, and where else the team might be able to use the money it could save on Jones to improve the roster elsewhere.
Jones has one year remaining on his contract after this season and cutting or trading him before June 1 would free up a shade less than $5 million in cap space. He also just turned 29, which is like 85 normal human years in running back years.
Through 12 games this season, he’s been fully healthy for about two after playing in 62 of a possible 66 regular-season games over the prior four seasons. I’m not sure you just move on from a guy like Jones, an integral part of the organization both on and off the field, because of one injury-riddled season.
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