The Green Bay Packers had a long drought of high production in the backfield until Aaron Jones came along. After a solid season in 2018, Jones then produced back to back seasons of 1,000 rushing yards. While it is easy to gawk at his rushing stats, his receiving stats have also been great for a RB. In his career, he has almost 1,500 receiving yards and 12 TD. With the WR group coming in with questions, it would not be surprising if Aaron Jones was more involved in the passing game. Could he eclipse 1,000 receiving yards this season?
Jones’ Best Receiving Games
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Jones consistently gets about 5-6 targets per game and converts at a high percentage on those targets. His average receiving game usually adds about 30-40 yards to his stat line. However, there are two games that stand out to me from 2019 that point to his prowess as a receiver. Week 5 was a matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. While this will be remembered as the game Jones rushed for over 100 yards and scored 4 rushing TDs, what is lost is his 7 catches for 75 yards. Not only could the Cowboys not stop him in the running game, they couldn’t stop him in the passing game either! This pales in comparison to what he did 3 weeks later against the Kansas City Chiefs. Jones caught another 7 passes this time for a whopping 159 yards and 2 scores. This is the kind of production that can lead to a 1,000 yard receiving season from Jones.
Jones and Dillon
For many RBs, the presence of another solid back can hurt stats. For Jones, I think the presence of AJ Dillon increases his chance to get to 1,000 receiving yards. Dillon is more of the bruiser back that can run downhill between the tackles. Head coach Matt Lafleur loves to get creative with the offense and with the departure of Davante Adams, Lafleur will be looking for new ways to create chunk plays. I believe Lafleur will try to get Jones in more space and let him make big plays. With Dillon around, Jones will not be asked to carry a heavy workload and can have more energy to put into the passing game. This is not to say that the Packers will completely abandon Jones as a runner but his skills in the passing game should be used more.
Increased Opportunity
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As I mentioned above, the loss of Adams leaves a hole in the offense. The WRs for the Packers have huge potential. Lazard could make a leap. The rookies could meld into the offense and make flashy plays. Cobb could reach back to 5 years ago and have a career season. These are all big ifs. Jones’ receiving ability is not a big if, it is a definite strength and he is primed for a breakout year.
Watching Aaron Jones run is fun. Packers fans would love to see Aaron Jones in space, making people miss and gaining chunk yardage. While Jones has never gotten close, this could be the season that Jones gets 1,000 receiving yards.
