Packer Central

11 Days Until Training Camp: 11 Drops Too Many

The Green Bay Packers need Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon to be more reliable receivers than they were in 2022.

Bill Huber

AJ Dillon (Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports)
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will be leaning heavily on their top running back tandem of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. They are the proven producers as the team transitions from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love at quarterback.

Jones and Dillon are a top tandem with one fatal flaw last season. Combined, they dropped 11 passes, according to Pro Football Focus. Jones dropped six, tied for most among running backs. Dillon dropped five, tied for fourth-most. Cutting down on that number will be critical when the Packers practice for the first time in training camp in 11 days.

Among 47 running backs targeted at least 25 times, Dillon’s drop rate of 15.2 percent was the second-highest while Jones’ 9.2 percent was 14th-highest.

Jones and Dillon are too talented to drop so many passes. Jones’ previous career worsts were four drops and 7.4 percent;

Due in part to his shoddy-handed running backs, Rodgers finished with the sixth-highest drop rate among 31 quarterbacks with at least 300 dropbacks. Dillon’s 2021 figures were one drop and 2.9 percent.

It’s going to be a challenge for Love, who will be a first-time starter throwing passes to a bunch of young receivers. He’ll need his prolific running backs to catch the ball better than they did last year.

Here are team-by-team running back drops from 2022.

Detroit: 13

Denver: 12

Green Bay: 11

L.A. Chargers: 10

Arizona: 9

N.Y. Jets: 9

Buffalo: 8

Tennessee: 8

Washington: 8

N.Y. Giants: 7

New England: 7

New Orleans: 7

Cincinnati: 6

Houston: 6

Minnesota: 6

Pittsburgh: 6

Tampa Bay: 6

Philadelphia: 5

Indianapolis: 5

Jacksonville: 5

Baltimore: 5

Miami: 5

Kansas City: 4

San Francisco: 4

Cleveland: 3

Dallas: 3

Chicago: 3

Las Vegas: 3

Seattle: 2

Carolina: 2

Atlanta: 1

L.A. Rams: 0

Countdown to Packers Training Camp

12 days until training camp: What history says about replacing No. 12

13 days until training camp: Replacing Mason Crosby

14 days until training camp: Previewing the 14 opponents

15 days until training camp: Aaron Jones, touchdown machine

16 days until training camp: Two months until Week 1 at Bears

17 days until training camp: 17 is the unmagical number

18 days until training camp: LaFleur’s magic touches?

19 days until training camp: 19 1,000-yard challenges

20 days until training camp: 20 reasons for optimism

21 days until training camp: 21 Packers rookie tight ends

22 days until training camp: Fourth of July fireworks

23 days until training camp: No. 23, Jaire Alexander

24 days until training camp: From No. 1 to No. 24 in red zone

25 days until training camp: From No. 1 to No. 25 in tackling

26 days until training camp: The key to the defense is No. 26

27 days until training camp: 27 sources of inspiration

28 days until training camp: At least they’re consistent

29 days: Keisean Nixon’s surprise stardom

30 days until training camp: 30th in key defensive stat

31 days until training camp: A killer No. 31 ranking

32 days until training camp: 32nd-ranked receivers

33 days until training camp: No. 33, Aaron Jones, is a great player

34 days until training camp: Plus-34 in turnovers

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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