Running backs all over the NFL seem to be getting paid. Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans got paid over the offseason with a four-year 50 million dollar deal. New Orleans Saints’ running back Alvin Kamara wants a new deal. And Joe Mixon of Cincinnati just got paid. Mixon will make 48 million over the next four years. It is a decent deal for Cincinnati as Mixon is an above-average running back, but it again supports more evidence on the type of contract that the Packers should look for with Aaron Jones.

When Henry got his deal earlier this summer, that seemed to be the prototype for Jones. The amount of money was reasonable and not an overpay. With the Mixon deal now, there is more evidence to support that most running backs are worth about 12 million dollars per year. That’s what Saints want to give Kamara, but he is asking for 16 million. We’ll see what happens there. Could the Packers talk Jones into staying around the 12 million range or will he try to pull a Kamara and seek out more?

Jones’ agent might look at this and go ‘Guys, my client is worth more than Henry and Mixon because he catches ball out of the backfield.’ Mixon catches a little more out of the backfield than Henry, but it doesn’t come close to what Jones did last year with 49 receptions. The Jones team cannot use Kamara as an example though. The Saints running back had 81 receptions last year. Jones doesn’t come close to that. If anything, maybe Jones can make maybe a touch more than both Henry and Mixon.

It is very possible that Green Bay moves on from Jones too. It would suck, and I don’t agree with it entirely. Yet that would be directly out of the Mike Shanahan playbook to never pay running backs. Just move on to the next one. That would be disappointing, but it’s entirely possible considering all the other free agency moves that Green Bay has to make next season.

Charlie.