A year ago, it was unclear if the Green Bay Packers would keep running back Aaron Jones. After all, it's a questionable position to spend money on — and one in which players tend to have a short career in the NFL. After all, the parties agreed to a new deal, with Jones taking a real $5 million paycut to stay. In 2024, there won't be similar questions, and Jones will be on the team.

"He's just really the heartbeat of our team," Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said at his end-of-season press conference last week.

"He was such a difference-maker when he was out there this year, the way our offense was able to move," Gutekunst added. "He changed a lot of the way we operated when he was in there and when he was healthy."

It was a tough overall season for Aaron Jones, handling hamstring and knee injuries at different points of the season. When he finally got healthy down the stretch, the running back was a true difference-maker, creating much more than the offensive line and the system gave him — and you can clearly see this comparing his numbers and his efficiency to AJ Dillon's.

The question is not if Aaron Jones will be on the Packers anymore. It's how.

And that's because Jones is entering the final year of his deal with the Packers. It's a huge cap hit for Green Bay, and the team's management will probably find a way to adjust his deal. There are, realistically, three paths for Green Bay and Jones to choose.

Keep things as they are

This seems the least likely scenario at this point. Right now, Aaron Jones is slated to make $12 million in 2024. But as the Packers moved money around over the last few years, his cap hit will be $17.575 million.

If things stay as they are, Jones will play out his deal for this value, and the Packers will still have $6.631 million in dead money to hit the cap in 2025 as part of previous restructures.

Restructure

If the Packers want to lower Jones' cap hit in 2024 but don't intend to extend him, there are actually two viable scenarios. The first one is a simple restructure that could be done unilaterally — and that's because the Packers and Jones have already added three void years to his deal.

Jones has an $11.1 million base salary, and they could convert up to $9.89 million of that into a restructure bonus, spreading it through the void years. That move would open $7.418 million in cap space, reducing his cap hit in 2024 to $10.157 million.

If Aaron Jones agreed, the parties could add another void year — and that's the second alternative. It's the same process, converting $9.89 million of his base salary into a restructure bonus. But they would spread it in five years, not four, clearing up $7.912 million and reducing his cap hit to $9.663 million.

The problem with that approach is that the money won't simply go away. That would be added to Jones' projected dead money in 2025 — it would be $14.543 million in the second option. It's a tough pill to swallow.

Extension

The last and probably best option is to find a way to give Aaron Jones an extension. It wouldn't need to be a new long-term deal, but a two- or three-year extension on top of what Jones already has.

In this case, the 2024 cap hit would be close to what it is in the restructure option, but the Packers would have much more future flexibility.

And that happens because the proration of past years — and from this year as well — would keep stretched, not accelerating in 2025. Moreover, Jones would be under contract for much longer, which is already a positive aspect.

The Packers want to keep Aaron Jones, and Jones wants to stay in Green Bay. Now, there will be time for the parties to sit down and find the smartest way of doing so.

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