Aaron Jones will return to Green Bay to play the Packers for the first time since signing with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4, but the running back wants to let the franchise and their fans know there’s no hard feelings.
The Packers may have chosen to move forward with Josh Jacobs in free agency over keeping Jones, allowing him to sign with their NFC North rival, and sometimes that can rub a player the wrong way. Evidently, that’s not the case with Jones, as he wrote a heartfelt letter via The Players’ Tribune regarding his return to Green Bay.
“It’s funny how so much of life is just about people seeing you or not. Growing up, and wanting to make it as a football player, I had all these people basically telling me I wasn’t anything special,” Jones started. “Coming out of high school I only had two college offers. Going into the draft I waited almost 200 picks for my name to be called.
“So when I finally did get drafted, I think there’s a part of me that figured it’s about to be the same in the NFL: more people who just see right past me, or who see me as nothing worth investing in. Then I became a Green Bay Packer.”
Reminiscing about his times in Green Bay, Jones explained what it was like to go from an unheralded addition to someone accepted by his teammates and his front office. However, it was the fans who really made him feel special with the Packers.
“It wasn’t just my teammates who made me feel seen in Green Bay — it was our fans, too,” Jones added. “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 of that.”
Over Jones’ successful tenure in Green Bay, he went through a ton, both on and off the field. He inked a major contract after entering the NFL as a fifth-round pick, and he was finally able to give his family the security he always desired to provide.
Continuing, Jones shed some light on what it was like to have his Packers teammates and coaches be at his side when his father passed away shortly after he signed his contract: “When I think about my seven years in Green Bay, the thing that probably will stay with me most is the way that the Packers were there for me when I lost my dad.”
From his teammates, to Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst, the Packers brass was there for Jones, and that meant a great deal to him. In the end, the former Green Bay star simply wanted to let all of Green Bay know they’ll all have a special place in his heart, even if he’ll enter Lambeau wearing purple and gold on Sunday.
“That’s the biggest thing I want to write here, not just to the Packers organization but really to all of Green Bay. Thank you,” Jones wrote. “It’s going to feel strange being on that visiting sideline for the first time, and being on the other side of this NFC North thing in general — but it’s ALL love, and it’s so much gratitude.
“Thanks for ‘betting’ on me, riding with me, hashtagging for me, and everything else. Thanks for SEEING me. No G on the helmet Sunday, always one in my heart.”
Aaron Jones truly embodied what it meant to play for the Green Bay Packers during his time with the franchise. Sunday will be an emotional showdown between the Vikings and the franchise Jones cut his teeth playing for, but love will be at the center of it all for the running back.
