What is Aaron Rodgers' Packers future? We asked Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon

By Henry McKenna
Updated Feb 10, 2023 5:34 pm EST

During an appearance on UNDISPUTED Thursday morning, Packers running back Aaron Jones praised teammate Aaron Rodgers. Jones expressed confidence that Rodgers would return to the NFL next season, and hoped that his quarterback would stay with the Packers.

"I think he'll be back," Jones said. "If he's retiring, I think he wants to go out on his own. I definitely see him coming back and playing and I definitely hope it's in Green Bay. He's a great leader for us. A guy like that, he brings a lot of people along."

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Green Bay RB Aaron Jones joins Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe to discuss Packers QB Aaron Rodgers' future in Green Bay, his 'dark retreat' and the team's Week 18 loss vs. Detroit Lions.

In a separate conversation with FOX Sports, running back A.J. Dillon addressed the potential that Rodgers might be on the move this offseason.

"Every offseason I've had [in Green Bay], there's been some sort of thing going on," Dillon said. "As far as 12 [Rodgers] goes, he's the most talented quarterback to ever play the game — or most skilled. It's been a pleasure whether he's coming back next year — or is not. Regardless that's his decision, but every opportunity I've had to go out there and ball with him has been truly an honor."

Shannon Sharpe pointed out to Jones that Rodgers has over 50 million reasons to come back — the star quarterback will be owed nearly $60 million in guaranteed money if he plays in 2023 per the terms of a contract extension he agreed to with the Packers last offseason. 

"That's tough to turn down," Jones responded, laughing. 

Jones also confirmed that he has not tried drinking the Ayahuasca plant medicine nor has he experimented with a "darkness retreat," two things Rodgers has gone viral for doing or announcing his plans to attempt. But when Skip Bayless asked Jones if Rodgers annoyed him at all, Jones said the opposite was true.

"No, never," Jones said. "I owe Aaron a huge thank you because if it wasn't for him I don't know how my career would have turned out. My first two years [in the NFL], I wasn't really playing. … A-Rod, he would literally stop the game, turn to the sideline, call timeout and tell Mike McCarthy, ‘I want 33 [Jones' jersey number] in the game.'"

Bayless reasoned that Rodgers was Jones' biggest fan, and in Bayless's estimation, he should be.

"When he first told me, ‘I’m your biggest fan,' I hadn't played a snap of [NFL] offense, so that did so much for my confidence, hearing that from a future Hall of Famer," Jones said. "I'm like, ‘Man, you believe in me this much?' … You keep digging at it, you keep working, and he sees that and he puts your arm around you and he loves on guys like that, who want to get better and who want to be great."

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.

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