Green Bay Packers’ Legend Rips Team Over Aaron Jones Situation

The Green Bay Packers released running back Aaron Jones last month, and apparently, head coach Matt LaFleur wasn’t even aware that was about to happen.

LaFleur recently said that the Packers’ decision to cut Jones caught him “off guard” and that he was “not involved in those types of conversations,” which seems like a rather strange statement from an established name like LaFleur.

Legendary Packers linebacker Clay Matthews feels the same way.

After learning of LaFleur’s comments on Jones, Matthews took to social media to rip Green Bay’s organization for the way the situation was handled.

“With a rookie* QB, young receiving corp and Watson injured, Jones WAS GBs offense,” Matthews posted on his X account. “He even took a pay cut to stay with the team in 2023! But I digress. I find the lack of communication between HC and GM to be wild. LaFleur has been one of the most successful coaches and doesn’t have a say!?”

It should be noted that Jones’ release came immediately after the Packers signed Josh Jacobs, so it’s not like Green Bay outright cut Jones and left a big hole in the backfield. If anything, the Packers upgraded at the position.

But the real issue here is that, as Matthews said, LaFleur had no say in the decision. LaFleur added that things “happened really fast” as far as Green Bay landing Jacobs and that he didn’t “know all all the details of that,” which suggests that not only was LaFleur not privy to the Packers’ releasing Jones, but he also wasn’t really involved in the club signing Jacobs.

That would even be odd for a first-year head coach; let alone a guy who has been coaching the team for five years and has gone 56-27 with four playoff appearances during that span.

Matthews has a point. The fact that Green Bay’s front office evidently didn’t even think to get LaFleur’s two cents on its decision to acquire Jacobs and release Jones is concerning.

Typically, the Packers’ organization has been rock solid, so this is certainly a deviation from what we are used to from Green Bay’s brass.

You have to wonder how Matt LaFleur feels about the whole thing.

In the end, Aaron Jones went on to sign with the NFC North division rival Minnesota Vikings, so the Packers will be seeing him twice in 2024.