Fallback Aaron Jones has reached an agreement with the Green Bay Packers on a four-year deal worth $ 48 million, including a $ 13 million signing bonus, agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“We expected bigger offers in free agencies, but Aaron wanted to stay with the Packers,” Rosenhaus told ESPN.
The Packers decided not to use their franchise tag on Jones before Tuesday’s deadline and instead moved on to talks about a long-term contract.
Jones tweeted “let’s roll it back” on Sunday.
Let’s roll it back🧀 #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/wW20Xti3QR
– Aaron Jones 3️⃣3️⃣ (@ Showtyme_33) March 14, 2021
He also said, “I’m just glad I could keep playing where I started my career” on Instagram Live.
Jones, a fifth-round pick by the Packers from UTEP in 2017, finished fourth in the NFL last season with 1,104 rushing yards despite missing two games with a calf injury. He made his first Pro Bowl – becoming the lowest seeded Packers to come back since Dorsey Levens (also a fifth round pick) in 1997 to do so.
It was Jones’ second consecutive 1,000-meter rush season. He rushed to 1,084 yards and led the NFL with 19 touchdowns in 2019. Including that season’s playoffs, he scored 23 goals, the most for a season in team history.
Jones, 26, is one of only two players in NFL history to have posted 3,000 plus yards rushing (3,364) and 35 plus rush touchdowns (37), averaging 5 plus yards per carry (5.2) in their first four seasons. Jim Brown is the other.
The Packers had contract talks with Jones since February 2020. At the end of last season, Jones, who became frustrated with the lack of guaranteed money the team offered, changed agents and hired Rosenhaus. At the time, the Packers had offered Jones a deal that would have paid him out in the top five running backs in the NFL in terms of average per year, a source told ESPN, but not in guaranteed cash.
The Packers went back to AJ Dillon in the second round last year as insurance against the loss of Jones and / or Jamaal Williams, who also entered the final year of his contract.