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- Mar 19, 2019
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Countdown to Camp is a series of stories examining the Packers' roster, position by position, leading up to training camp. The second installment features the running backs.
GREEN BAY – The complementary pieces in the Packers' running game keep multiplying.
For most of 2019, Green Bay's backfield was the Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams show, and for good reason.
Jones produced like a feature back, with more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage (1,084 rushing, 474 receiving in the regular season) and a franchise-record 23 total touchdowns, including playoffs. Williams did his part when called upon, tying for the team lead in receiving TDs with five while adding more than 700 yards from scrimmage of his own (460 rushing, 253 receiving).
Then in December, along came waiver claim Tyler Ervin, who not only revitalized the Packers' moribund return game but also quickly found a niche in Matt LaFleur's offense as a gadget-like option, lining up and motioning almost anywhere in the formation.
The latest addition to the running back stable came in April's draft, when the Packers used their second-round pick on Boston College's AJ Dillon, a workhorse who piled up 4,382 yards and 38 TDs on the ground in three college seasons.
How everyone fits in 2020 is up to LaFleur, but there's no question heading in that the 5-9, 208-pound Jones is the No. 1 guy, because the numbers can't be ignored.
The fourth-year pro and former fifth-round pick was the engine that ran the offense when top receiver Davante Adams was sidelined at midseason. Jones averaged 138 total yards over Adams' four-game absence, and Green Bay went 4-0. When Jones didn't produce at a high level in 2019, the offense struggled. He averaged just 42 total yards in the Packers' three regular-season losses.
The rest of the backs will give the offense choices as well as protection in case of injury.
Drafted in the same 2017 class as Jones but one round earlier, Williams (6-0, 213) knows and relishes his complementary role. LaFleur's creativity could come to the forefront with the speedy 5-10, 192-pound Ervin, who was re-signed in the offseason.