NFL free agency preview: Why Aaron Jones makes sense for Dolphins, and why he doesn’t

Free agency begins March 17. Who are the best players available? And will the Dolphins make a play for them? We explore in this series of player profiles ahead of the league new year.

Aaron Jones

2020 team: Green Bay Packers.

Position: Running back.

Age: 26.

ESPN free agent ranking: 14.

2020 stats: Fourteen games (all starts), 1,104 rushing yards, 5.5 yards per carry, nine rushing touchdowns, 47 catches for 355 yards, 79.4 Pro Football Focus grade.

2020 salary: $2.1 million.

Market value (per Spotrac): Four years, $58.5 million.

Player summary: Read that previous line once again. And do the math. That comes out to $14.6 million annually. For a running back. In a cap-depressed year. Doesn’t sound plausible. But we hear it just might be. The word in league circles is Jones could fetch $13M APY. Just a staggering sum, one the Packers almost certainly will not pay, considering they have A.J Dillon waiting in the wings. Franchise tag? Now that’s a possibility. It would cost the Packers roughly $8 million this year.

Likelihood he joins the Dolphins: Moderate. Like our colleague Barry Jackson, we hear the Dolphins are enamored with Jones, and the feeling is mutual. Plus his South Florida-based agent, Drew Rosenhaus, would surely love having him around the corner. Jones would be a boon to Tua Tagovailoa, because he’s dynamic in the run and pass game. But again, there’s the price tag. Would the Dolphins make a running back their third-highest paid player? They have cap issues of their own, and the draft — with four top-50 picks — could be a better option.

Quotable: “We would love to have Aaron back. I think he’s such an important part of our offense this year, he’s a dynamic player. He’s absolutely everything we want in a professional football player. So we’d certainly like to bring him back.” — Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst on Aaron Jones.

This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 11:38 AM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription