{"id":92707,"date":"2020-08-13T16:42:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T20:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=92707"},"modified":"2020-08-13T16:42:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T20:42:42","slug":"aaron-jones-and-jamaal-williams-have-bolstered-green-bay-packers-run-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/08\/13\/aaron-jones-and-jamaal-williams-have-bolstered-green-bay-packers-run-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams Have Bolstered Green Bay Packers Run Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2017, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/packers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/J\/JoneAa00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Aaron Jones<\/strong><\/a> out of the University of Texas at El Paso 182nd overall. Throughout his first three years in Green Bay, Jones has played in 40 games. He has rushed 450 times for 2,260 yards and 28 touchdowns.\u00a0Now, these might sound like fairly unimpressive stats for three years until you remember that the Packers use a one-two punch running back game plan. Jones along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WillJa06.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jamaal Williams<\/strong> <\/a>carry the Packers running game. In the same draft class, the Packers selected Williams out of Brigham Young University 134th overall. In his three seasons with the Packers, Williams has played in 46 games. He has rushed 381 times for 1,480 yards and eight touchdowns. Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams have bolstered the Packers run game since they were drafted in 2017.<\/p>\n<h2>Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams Have Bolstered Green Bay Packers Run Game<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, it is no secret that Green Bay has had a wildly inconsistent rushing game over the years. So, let&#8217;s go ahead and break down where the Packers ranked out of all 32 NFL teams between 2010 and 2019:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2010: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2010\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">24th<\/a> with 1,606 yards on 421 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2011: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2011\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">27th<\/a> with 1,558 yards on 395 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2012: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2012\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">20th<\/a> with 1,702 yards on 433 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2013: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2013\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7th<\/a> with 2,136 yards on 459 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2014: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2014\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">11th<\/a> with 1,917 yards on 435 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2015: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2015\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">12th<\/a> with 1,850 yards on 436 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2016: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2016\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">20th<\/a> with 1,701 yards on 374 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2017: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2017\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">17th<\/a> with 1,724 yards on 386 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2018: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2018\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22nd<\/a> with 1,667 yards on 333 attempts<\/li>\n<li>2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/stats\/team\/_\/stat\/rushing\/season\/2019\/seasontype\/2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">15th<\/a> with 1,795 yards on 411 attempts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to these ESPN team rushing stats from the last 10 years, Green Bay has only landed in the top 10 once. That&#8217;s right, just once. The Packers have a history of leaning on the passing game since they&#8217;ve had Hall of Fame-caliber quarterbacks for years. Green Bay did not begin exploring the possibilities of expanding the run game until they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/2018\/12\/2\/18122932\/mike-mccarthy-fired-packers-aaron-rodgers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fired<\/a> head coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/McCaMi0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike McCarthy<\/a><\/strong> in December of 2018 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/packers-matt-lafleur-agree-to-4-year-contract-0ap3000001008867\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hired<\/a>\u00a0rookie head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/LaFlMa0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Matt LaFleur<\/strong><\/a> for the 2019 season. LaFleur kept McCarthy&#8217;s strategy of using multiple backs instead of naming a bell cow to carry most of the load. However, the Packers&#8217; new head coach has been much more willing to work to improve the running game than McCarthy was. LaFleur trusts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/R\/RodgAa00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Aaron Rodgers<\/strong><\/a>, his QB1, of course. That&#8217;s not even a question. He also realizes that Rodgers cannot do it all.<\/p>\n<p>During Week 5 of last season, Jones had a monster game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, scoring four touchdowns. Jones had 19 carries for 107 yards and seven catches for\u00a075 yards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.packersnews.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/packers\/2019\/10\/06\/aaron-jones-scores-4-tds-packers-beat-cowboys-34-24-improve-4-1\/3869107002\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">totaling 182 yards and 26 touches<\/a>. Since WR1, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/A\/AdamDa01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Davante Adams<\/strong><\/a>, was out for this game, Jones rose up to be the playmaker that Green Bay needed.<\/p>\n<h2>Jamaal Williams&#8217; Future Is Unclear<\/h2>\n<p>Between Jones and Williams, while they have provided the one-two punch, Jones is the clear favorite. So, yes, Williams has been exceptional and made a huge impact on the Packers running game, but the truth is that his future remains unclear. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/robreischel\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Rob Reischel<\/strong><\/a>, Forbes contributor for the Packers says: &#8220;Williams is the only player in franchise history to register <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robreischel\/2020\/06\/11\/the-most-important-green-bay-packers-jamaal-williams-faces-uncertain-future\/#2204029430e3\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">400-plus rushing yards<\/a> and 200-plus receiving yards in each of his first three NFL seasons. He\u2019s tough, physical, and remarkably consistent. Williams has played in 46 of a possible 48 games, never fumbled, is a terrific blocker, and has caught 75.8 percent of the passes thrown his way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Packers running game has a long way to go to catch up with teams like the <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/49ers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, who ran all over them in 2019. The one-two punch of Jones and Williams has taken Green Bay&#8217;s run game to the next step, but there&#8217;s still room to grow. In April of 2020, the Packers drafted another running back, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/D\/DillAJ00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>A.J. Dillon<\/strong><\/a>, who Reischel describes as a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robreischel\/2020\/06\/11\/the-most-important-green-bay-packers-jamaal-williams-faces-uncertain-future\/#2204029430e3\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bigger version<\/a> of Williams.&#8221; Assuming the NFL is able to continue moving forward with the 2020 season, fans will be eager to see how the Packers continue to strengthen the run game.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"9HlUQdQ6RJFCrqsWhaJyKg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1200715555\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'9HlUQdQ6RJFCrqsWhaJyKg',sig:'f2dmldBZpe2wT5gfNF9bjeUNteaZUaIcq-P53PfBMmM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1200715555',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams were both drafted in 2017 and have worked as an incredible, dynamic duo to bolster the Green Bay Packers run game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2831,"featured_media":93005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,54,1],"tags":[2256,275,61,44,1584,3566,40],"class_list":["post-92707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-packers","category-editorials","category-uncategorized","tag-aaron-jones","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-football","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-jamaal-williams","tag-matt-lafleur","tag-nfl"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}