Vikings’ Aaron Jones has ‘nothing but love’ for Green Bay as he prepares to return

If Aaron Jones harbors any angst toward the Green Bay Packers, where he spent his first seven NFL seasons building his reputation as one of the league’s best running backs, he’s not letting it break his smile when he returns to Lambeau Field on Sunday as a member of the Vikings.

Jones, a fan and locker room favorite in Green Bay, has quickly become the same in Minnesota since signing a one-year deal in March to join his former NFC North rival.

But Jones, who is averaging over 100 yards from scrimmage in his first three games with the Vikings, is using the power of positive thought to manifest a purple Lambeau Leap if he scores against his former team.

“If you’re not thinking about the end zone, you’re thinking about the wrong thing,” Jones said Wednesday. “Definitely. I’m definitely leaping up there.”

“I can still get up there,” he added. “Hopefully there’s a Vikings fan in one of [the end zones] so I can jump up to them. I think that’ll be a pretty cool shot, a cool side by side of the two jerseys while doing a Lambeau Leap.”

Jones, a 2017 fifth-round pick by the Packers, was released in March by Green Bay’s front office in a cost-cutting move. He declined another pay cut after accepting one in 2023. A day after the Packers cut Jones, he agreed to sign with the Vikings and face his former team twice a season.

“I have a lot of respect for the people there and the relationships I made there,” Jones said. “It’s nothing but love. I understand it’s a business and at some point you have to make business decisions.”

On Wednesday, Jones had an interview published by the Players Tribune in which he told stories about former Packers players Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams believing in him, how the Packers supported him in 2021 after the death of his father, Alvin Sr., and how grateful he was to Packers fans.

Asked about the piece by Twin Cities reporters, Jones said the abruptness of his release — “My last time walking out of there, I thought I was coming back,” he said — left him wanting to thank the Packers organization and fans.

“I feel like I didn’t say goodbye,” Jones said. “Their fans, I feel like they were kind of in the middle like with me coming [back], so I wanted to let them know it’s nothing but love and respect. I’m here now. This is where my heart is. I love being here and love everything about this organization. But I just wanted to tell them thank you for my time there, accepting me, allowing me to become the player that I am.”

Jones’ positive outlook about his former team isn’t a surprise to his new Vikings teammates.

“From the day he got here he’s been all positive, high energy,” said right tackle Brian O’Neill, a team captain. “It doesn’t take you long to realize why everybody in Green Bay loved him for a long time. His son, [Aaron] Jr., is always running around saying hi to everybody.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell also had high praise for Jones. Just like his former coach, the Packers’ Matt LaFleur, who said Tuesday that Jones is “one of my favorite players.”

“It’s hard to even put into words what he’s been able to do,” O’Connell said of Jones. “Not even in between the white lines, which has been spectacular. But just his fit, the type of person he is, the way guys already look to him as the standard of how we want to do things around here, and he’s been here for three games.”

The Vikings had some intel on Jones beyond competing against him for years. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips is a 2001 graduate from the University of Texas-El Paso, where Jones and his brother, Alvin Jr., played. Phillips said some of Jones’ former UTEP coaches were Phillips’ teammates years ago. So when the Vikings had a chance to acquire Jones, he already had at least one fan in the building.

“It was a lot like the feeling when the [T.J.] Hockenson talks were going. Not only excitement about the player,” Phillips said, “but to get him from a division rival. … To be able to get one of the players you don’t have to compete against anymore, and he’s on your side, is a pretty good feeling.”

Jones, 29, has hit the ground running in Minnesota, where his 64% success rate through three games ranks fourth in the NFL among qualified runners, according to Pro Football Reference; a successful run gains at least 40% of yardage needed on first down, 60% on second down, and 100% on third and fourth downs.

Jones called O’Connell’s offense a “perfect” fit for him. He was often a dual threat for the Packers, and the Vikings have wasted little time deploying him around the field. During his 8-yard touchdown catch against the Texans, Jones lined up at wide receiver and ran a crossing route. Jones’ 12 catches trail only receiver Justin Jefferson’s 14 grabs through three weeks.

“You get used in so many different ways,” Jones said. “I feel I’m a versatile back and here I get to show that, whether it’s in the run game, pass game, whether that’s blocking, chipping, screens; multiple ways to get the ball in your hands.”

But now he’ll be doing it from the visitor’s sideline at Lambeau Field.

“I think I’m going to be in the zone, flowing,” Jones said. “I’ve been there, I’m familiar with the place. Played many games there. … Ultimately I’m excited to go back and have that full circle moment.”

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