Aaron Jones is 'definitely leaping' if he scores in return to Lambeau Field

Jones will be back in Green Bay this weekend, this time as a visiting player.

Sep 22, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones (33) runs the ball against the Houston Texans during the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Aaron Jones loved to do the Lambeau Leap after touchdowns during his seven seasons with the Packers. This Sunday, he'll have his first chance to do it as a visiting player.

Jones said on Wednesday that he's "definitely leaping" if he scores in his return to Green Bay. He'll look for some Vikings fans in the first row to make his trip into the stands a more welcomed one, but it sounds like he'll do the leap even if he can't find any purple jerseys to catch him. "That'd be a pretty cool side-by-side with the two jerseys doing the Lambeau Leap," he said.

This past weekend, Jones scored his first touchdown at U.S. Bank Stadium as a member of the home team. He had expressed plans to do a leap into the crowd, even unveiling a name for it — the 'Bank Vault' — but he forgot to do so during his celebration. In his defense, the walls at U.S. Bank are quite a bit higher than the ones at Lambeau, at least on the side of the field where he scored.

“I forgot the bank vault!” - Aaron Jones after his first score as a Viking in U.S. Bank Stadium

Dont worry Aaron, you will get another chance at it.

🎥: @Vikings pic.twitter.com/ZcNT5M88b6

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) September 25, 2024

Jones, who signed a one-year deal with the Vikings this offseason, is looking forward to making his return to Green Bay to play against his former team. "A moment of gratitude, a full-circle moment," he said. He has nothing but love for the Packers and the memories he made there, saying he understands the NFL is a business and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made.

Since signing with one of the Packers' rivals, Jones has gotten a hard time from some of the fans of his old team. But he posted a piece in The Player's Tribune on Wednesday, in which he thanked Green Bay fans and talked about how much the organization believed in him and helped him through the tragic loss of his father in 2021. The reception on social media was overwhelmingly positive.

"I felt like I didn't say goodbye," Jones said when asked what motivated him to do that story. "Their fans were kind of in the middle with me coming, so I just wanted to let them know it's nothing but love and respect. I'm here now, this is where my heart is, I love being here, I love everything about this (Vikings) organization, but I just wanted to tell them thank you for my time there, accepting me, allowing me to become the player that I am."

Jones has hit the ground running with his new team, ranking fifth in the NFL with 325 yards from scrimmage through three weeks. His play on the field and who he is as a person have made him a perfect fit for the Vikings. He's also quickly become a fan favorite in Minnesota, much like he was in Green Bay for so many years.

"It's hard to even put into words what he's been able to do, not even in between the white lines, which has been spectacular, but just his fit, the type of person he is, the way the guys already look to him as the standard of how we want to do things around here," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said. "I think Aaron Jones is a special, unique human being, that just happens to be one of the best in the league at what he does."

"It'll mean a lot to him to go up there," O'Connell added. "I know he feels incredibly strongly about the organization that Aaron comes from, the fan base, and I think he's having a blast, though, forming that same dynamic with our fans and our team and our organization. He's doing it on a daily basis and it's absolutely awesome to watch."