Brian Gutekunst reveals unexpected outcome in the Aaron Jones' negotiations
Right after last season ended, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked about what he expected from potential negotiations with running back Aaron Jones. At the time, Gutekunst said he absolutely expected Jones to be back in 2024. Fast forward to March, and he was already a member of the Minnesota Vikings. During […]
Right after last season ended, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked about what he expected from potential negotiations with running back Aaron Jones. At the time, Gutekunst said he absolutely expected Jones to be back in 2024. Fast forward to March, and he was already a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
During an appearance on "Packer Transplants,” a podcast of the Cheesehead TV, Gutekunst talked about the surprising outcome and revealed that even himself wasn't expecting to part ways with Jones.
"First of all, nothing happened. Aaron obviously is as first class as it gets, and so is his agent Drew Rosenhaus. We have great relationships with both of those guys. At the time, that was my expectation. It was kind of like I said, I absolutely expected Aaron to be back with us, that was kind of the intention," Gutekunst said. "We knew there were some things to go through, some hurdles, and as we went through those, it just became harder than expected for me. And again, that's the one thing we talk about all the time, the NFL landscape is always changing, and as it changes, we have to adapt to it. And that's what happened. The landscape changed, we weren't able to come to an agreement that we thought we might be able to with Aaron."
The Packers reportedly offered Jones a significant paycut. According to The Athletic's Matt Schneidman, Green Bay wanted to reduce Aaron Jones' base salary from $11 million to $4 million, elevating the incentives from $1 million to $2 million. After all, even if Jones had achieved every incentive on the deal, he would have earned half of what he was slated to make.
The running back had signed a four-year, $48 million deal back in 2021. In 2023, Aaron Jones had already accepted a paycut, reducing his salary from $16 million to $11 million.
This year, though, Jones refused the offer. By that time, the Packers explored the running back market and were able to find an agreement with Josh Jacobs on another four-year, $48 million deal, without guarantees beyond year 1. That opened the door to release Jones.
"Quite frankly, some opportunities opened up that we didn't expect as well," Gutekunst added. "When those things happen, for me, as hard as that is emotionally when you are attached to a player like Aaron and what he's done for the club, you gotta do what's right for the Green Bay Packers. I've had great examples of that in my career as I worked under Ron (Wolf) and Ted (Thompson), certainly I feel like I owe that to the organization."
Aaron Jones ended up signing with the Vikings on a one-year, $6 million contract — and it can go up to $7 million with incentives.
Meanwhile, the Packers got a player who is three years younger and is expected to be able to carry a heavier workload.
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