I actually was thinking this the entire time I caught up at the thread as I was at a music festival all weekend, then out of the office on Monday, and really busy yesterday.
What I think has surprisingly been glossed over in this thread (other than references to his SPARQ score), is just how elite of an athlete Jones really is. I know
@Football Jones said he doesn't use metrics ... sounds like an eye test sort of thing for him. I trust my eyes to tell me when I need to check the metrics, which they do with Jones. If you compare Jones to another highly productive, highly elusive, smaller back in LeSean McCoy, their metrics are almost carbon copies ... except Jones posted his a full 10 lbs heavier than McCoy.
NFL Draft Scout has Jones as running a 4.50 (though the NFL Combine site has him running a 4.56). Others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe sometimes those are updated later, which is why Draft Scout sometimes has different times. Shady ran a 4.50 at his pro day (no combine workout due to the flu). Jones had a 10-yard spit of 1.51 to Shady's 1.52. Jones had a 20-yard split of 2.57 to Shady's 2.59. Both Jones and Shady had 6.82 3-Cones. Jones' had a 4.20 short shuttle vs. Shady's 4.18. He had 16 reps on the bench to Shady's 17 reps. Jones completely obliterated Shady in the jumps. See for yourself:
Aaron Jones at NFL Draft Scout vs.
LeSean McCoy at NFL Draft Scout
This isn't intended to suggest that Aaron Jones is better or equal to LeSean McCoy, but it does tell me that Aaron Jones does, in fact, have some special attributes as an athlete.
I've also heard several evaluators on podcasts this week say that Jones gave the Packers something they haven't had in years. Many pointed to nuances like timing with the OL, like how Jones drops his pad level into contact while Montgomery often turns his shoulder into contact, etc. It's completely plausible to me that Jones is a better RB than Montgomery is due to the little things that can't really be picked up in an offseason at the position after only playing it part time in HS. Jones, on the other hand, has been playing it his entire life.
My suspicion is Monty gets another week to sit (if his ribs were truly broken to the extent they potentially threatened internal organs - as we've been led to believe). If Jones plays as well as he did on Sunday again, then Monty probably gets a third week off as it buys him a full month of recovery with the bye in week 8. At that point, if the Packers have seen 3 full games of Jones playing like he did on Sunday ... well idk how they go back to Monty full time.
I was a huge Monty supporter last year as a season changer, and I fully believe he would've been had he been able to stay healthy. I sold everywhere this offseason and didn't draft Monty because I didn't believe he'd hold up to the usage. Felt kinda stupid week 1, but then the efficiency metrics started showing Monty was a product of that RB1 volume, not necessarily his talent. I think Monty's a good player, but it's been said that the most important skill is staying healthy, which he's not been able to do.
Time will tell, but there's definitely a chance Aaron Jones ends up a pretty special player. I'm not so sure I'd advise selling.