Only a handful of teams have the privilege of calling their roster home to a skill position player ranking within the NFL's top five. How about the Packers' 2020 rival Bucs? Only by virtue of free agency. The Niners? Nope. Bears? Certainly not.
Now, stop for a moment and realize that the Packers have THREE of them in Rodgers + Jones + Adams.
That's right, three offensive players widely accepted as top five talents at their respective positions - all of whom, I might add, were drafted by Green Bay. While some might question whether Jones - the definition of a dual threat weapon - truly cracks the top five at running back, no one can dispute Rodgers and Adams' belonging in the upper echelons of their positions, both regularly mentioned as THE best in the game.
Statistically...Significant
Each of these players have been an elite talent for multiple years and each has catapulted into the top five in their own way.
Adams has seemingly gotten better each year in the league, reaching stardom when the Packers' typically-deep receiving corps became just him. Jones took his game to another level when Matt LaFleur's running back-minded offense played into his cross-functional strengths. Finally, Rodgers - a three-time MVP - has been re-asserted as a top QB talent after being previously upstaged by a younger crop of passers like Russell Wilson.
Through a quantitative lens, the trio has been amongst the best in the game since LaFleur's arrival in 2019, with all three players posting career-high numbers that helped the Packers reach back-to-back NFC Championship games. In 2019, Jones collected over 1,500 all-purpose yards, reaching pay dirt 19 times in the process. In 2020, Rodgers set a new career-high in touchdown passes (48) while Adams hauled in 18 (!!!) of them.
Perhaps even more noteworthy: the mere presence of these three stars has become an increasingly important factor for the continuity of the Green Bay offense.
Through four weeks this season, Jones and Adams account for 52% of all offensive touches. In the passing game, Adams has received over a third of total targets while regularly drawing double coverage. On the ground, Jones has still received the bulk of the workload, despite the presence of talented A.J. Dillon and Kylin Hill behind him on the depth chart.
The disproportionate reliance on Jones and Adams isn't anything new. Pre-dating LaFleur in 2017 - when Rodgers missed most of the season - Jones and Adams were still the focal points of the offense, virtually the only reason the Packers won several games with Brett Hundley at quarterback. They both came up big when needed, recording walk-off touchdowns versus the Bucs and Browns that kept the Packers' playoff hopes alive at least temporarily.
Though opposing defenses have tried to key in on Jones and Adams over the years, LaFleur's multi-faceted play calling and Rodgers' smarts in the pocket have forced teams to stay honest in accounting for other contributors like Robert Tonyan and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Such has allowed Jones and Adams to play big roles in the Packers offense and sustain their blockbuster fantasy production.
But, in the NFL, big production usually equates to big price tags.
A "Last Dance" Together?
Or so Rodgers and Adams had wanted the football world to believe in July. There may be some merit to it, however, with Adams' contract expiring at end of this season and Rodgers' potentially up a later year, despite the possibility that this past offseason's drama translates to an even earlier departure out of Green Bay.
While Jones was locked into a four-year deal this past March, his pay escalates greatly after the 2022 season, when the Packers will likely have to decide between retaining him or investing in the younger Dillon. Despite his crucial role in LaFleur's offense, the $8 million and $11 million base salaries he's scheduled to earn as a 29 and 30 year-old, respectively, could be difficult costs for the Packers to absorb at that stage.
It's too early to say for certain whether this will be the last season we see 12, 33 and 17 together in Packers uniforms. For now, we can only hope that the special offensive package will continue on the trajectory assembled under LaFleur and help bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay this coming February.
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