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One of the trendy picks for a breakout running back for the upcoming 2019 NFL campaign is Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers, who was having a very solid year in 2018 before a sprained MCL knocked him out for the final few weeks of the season.
In 12 games overall, Jones rushed for 728 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging a league-best 5.5 yards per carry. In addition, he hauled in 26 receptions for 206 yards and a score.
But in an NFL full of terrific running backs and backs on the rise, just where should Fantasy Football players target Jones in the draft?
Well, when it comes to running backs, a lot of things need to be taken into consideration when determining what their draft position should be in Fantasy Football.
What we do know about Jones is that he is a very efficient rusher. We saw him leading the league in yards per carry this past year, and during his rookie season in 2017, he registered the same 5.5 yards per attempt. Albeit, it was on much lower volume (81 carries), but it's still nothing to sneeze at.
The question with Jones isn't so much of whether or not he will make the most of his touches. It's how much he is going to touch the football in general.
Jones carried the ball just 133 times in 2018, which ranked 35th in the NFL. Even second-string halfbacks ended up with more attempts than Jones, and yes, the 24-year-old missed four games, but if you translate his carries over a full 16-game campaign, it comes out to 177 carries, which would still rank just 20th in the league.
So, basically, the Packers weren't relying all that heavily on Jones this past season. Now, to be fair, much of that had to do with the fact that Green Bay, which finished the season 6-9-1, was playing from behind a lot of the time and has an elite quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, but we also must not ignore the fact that Jones wasn't much of a receiving threat, either.
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This means that Jones' value may be dependent on just how good the Packers are in 2019.
While Jones may certainly be a breakout candidate either way, he is not Saquon Barkley or Christian McCaffrey, guys who rack up both rushing and receiving numbers regardless of how poor their respective teams are.
Jones seems to be reliant upon situations. The good news is that Green Bay should be a pretty good football team this coming season, and with a new head coach at the helm in Matt LaFleur who seems ready to fully utilize Jones, Jones could absolutely be in for a big year.
Just keep this in mind: don't expect Jones to be one of the top backs in Fantasy Football in 2019. The Packers will probably throw the ball quite a bit with Rodgers, and Jones, again, is not a great pass-catcher out of the backfield.
Essentially, if you are expecting Jones to be elite along the lines of Barkley, McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliott, you are asking for far too much. Instead, Jones is a really good option along with guys like Marlon Mack and Sony Michel, running backs who can pile up some yards when given the opportunity but aren't all that versatile.
Once the big names are off the board, Jones becomes an enticing option, but if you have plans of drafting him, make sure you take care of some of your other positions first, because he should be available for quite a while.
