Jamaal Williams signed with the Lions. I think this will force Green Bay to use Aaron Jones more in obvious passing situations. That could be both a good and a bad thing.
As it stands, I don’t think the Packers have another back they would trust putting on the field for a lot of those plays. AJ Dillon, I’m confident, is going to play a lot more this year, but I don’t think he’s a guy they want on the field in those situations yet. So I would think Jones will have to pick up more of those duties.
Over the last two years, Jones has caught 96 passes. Williams has caught 70 balls.
But if the Packers are using Jones more, that will expose him to more punishment. That’s worrying, with him being a smaller guy who’s had a fair share of injuries.
I also note that Jones hasn’t been as efficient as Williams as a pass catcher. Over the last two years, 30 running backs have been targeted at least 80 times. Of that group, Williams ranks No. 1 in catch rate, catching 88 percent of the balls thrown his way. Jones ranked down at 26th (73 percent). Only four backs have lower catch rates (of the lower four, one isn’t even on a team right now, and two others are guys nobody wants to see on the field on third downs).
Packers are looking at younger players, I suppose. Would not surprise me if they add a veteran at some point who could handle some of their third-down work. Two of the top seven guys on this list are currently free agents: Devonta Freeman and LeVeon Bell (thought I’m not sure where those guys are at physically and mentally – whether they’re hungry to play).
| RUNNING BACKS, CATCH RATES (last 2 years) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | Pct |
| Jamaal Williams | 80 | 70 | 489 | 7.0 | 6 | 88% |
| James Conner | 81 | 69 | 466 | 6.8 | 3 | 85% |
| Austin Ekeler | 173 | 146 | 1,396 | 9.6 | 10 | 84% |
| LeVeon Bell | 98 | 82 | 599 | 7.3 | 1 | 84% |
| Dalvin Cook | 117 | 97 | 880 | 9.1 | 1 | 83% |
| Christian McCaffrey | 161 | 133 | 1,154 | 8.7 | 5 | 83% |
| Devonta Freeman | 80 | 66 | 468 | 7.1 | 4 | 83% |
| Alvin Kamara | 204 | 164 | 1,289 | 7.9 | 6 | 80% |
| Nyheim Hines | 134 | 107 | 802 | 7.5 | 4 | 80% |
| Chris Carson | 93 | 74 | 553 | 7.5 | 6 | 80% |
| Kareem Hunt | 95 | 75 | 589 | 7.9 | 6 | 79% |
| James White | 157 | 121 | 1,020 | 8.4 | 6 | 77% |
| David Montgomery | 103 | 79 | 623 | 7.9 | 3 | 77% |
| Chris Thompson | 81 | 62 | 524 | 8.5 | 1 | 77% |
| Leonard Fournette | 147 | 112 | 755 | 6.7 | 0 | 76% |
| Kenyan Drake | 99 | 75 | 482 | 6.4 | 0 | 76% |
| Giovani Bernard | 102 | 77 | 589 | 7.6 | 3 | 75% |
| Tarik Cohen | 113 | 85 | 497 | 5.8 | 3 | 75% |
| J.D. McKissic | 152 | 114 | 822 | 7.2 | 3 | 75% |
| Melvin Gordon | 99 | 74 | 454 | 6.1 | 2 | 75% |
| Ezekiel Elliott | 142 | 106 | 758 | 7.2 | 4 | 75% |
| Duke Johnson | 97 | 72 | 659 | 9.2 | 4 | 74% |
| David Johnson | 93 | 69 | 684 | 9.9 | 6 | 74% |
| Chase Edmonds | 88 | 65 | 507 | 7.8 | 5 | 74% |
| Devin Singletary | 91 | 67 | 463 | 6.9 | 2 | 74% |
| Aaron Jones | 131 | 96 | 829 | 8.6 | 5 | 73% |
| Ronald Jones | 82 | 59 | 474 | 8.0 | 1 | 72% |
| Saquon Barkley | 82 | 58 | 498 | 8.6 | 2 | 71% |
| Miles Sanders | 115 | 78 | 706 | 9.1 | 3 | 68% |
| Todd Gurley | 84 | 56 | 371 | 6.6 | 2 | 67% |
—Ian Allan