Green Bay Packers

Most Important Packers: No. 8 -- Brad Jones

Updated Aug. 12, 2022 10:44 a.m. ET

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Green Bay Packers beat writer Paul Imig will be analyzing the 25 most important players to the Packers' success in the 2013 season. Check back each day to see the latest player on the list.

Note: This is not a list of the team's 25 best players or a series about past success, but rather which of them means the most to how Green Bay will fare this year. Criteria such as depth at that player's position, general expectations and overall importance of that player having a good season are all highly considered.



27 / Fifth NFL season



Brad Jones was not even close to being one of the 25 most important players for the Green Bay Packers at the beginning of last season. What a difference a year makes, because Jones will be a very important factor in whether the Packers have a successful 2013 season.

General manager Ted Thompson believes in Jones a great deal. Jones was an unrestricted free agent earlier this offseason and was garnering a lot of interest from other NFL teams. But Thompson didn't want to let Jones get away, signing him to a three-year, $11.75 million deal. That is not the type of money that the Packers could afford to give to a player that they view as a backup. That is the contract of an NFL starter.

Thompson then confirmed his commitment to Jones being a starter when Green Bay released Desmond Bishop. With Bishop gone, the path for Jones becoming a full-time starter has no obstacles in its way.

Jones is No. 8 on this list because this decision by Thompson and the Packers has to work out. If it doesn't, Green Bay's defense will take a significant hit this upcoming season. Thompson is often given the benefit of the doubt due to his positive ratio of good-versus-bad moves. The way that Jones performs in 2013 will be a big test for the Packers fans who often fall back on the "In Ted We Trust" motto.



A year ago, the idea of Green Bay choosing Jones over Bishop would have been too ridiculous for even Jones' best friends to mention. At the time, Jones was just beginning his transition to inside linebacker after three relatively ineffective seasons at outside linebacker. The Packers' reason for the switch was to keep Jones from having to run up against offensive tackles who outweighed him significantly. Bishop, on the other hand, was coming off a 2011 season in which he led Green Bay in tackles.

Jones entered 2012 as a third-string inside linebacker. When Bishop suffered a season-ending injury in preseason, it was D.J. Smith who got the call off the bench. But, when Smith was later placed on injured reserve, Jones took over in Week 7 and was immediately a productive contributor. He was an every-down player and stayed on the field regardless of what defensive package the Packers were in. Jones defended the run well and did a fairly good job in pass coverage.

Expectations for Jones in 2013 are very high. There's little reason to believe that Jones won't perform at least as well this upcoming season as he did last year. Having a full training camp to work as the starter should be quite beneficial for Jones.

Jones will need to justify Green Bay's decision to go with him over Bishop. If Jones struggles and Bishop plays well with the Minnesota Vikings, Thompson will have plenty of questions to answer.


The Packers have decent depth at inside linebacker, but not as much as they did last season.

A.J. Hawk will almost certainly be the other starter at inside linebacker when Green Bay is in its 3-4 okie defense. The top backups behind Jones are all unproven and inexperienced, but they're not lacking for talent and potential. After spending much of the 2012 season trying to regain strength following a bout with colitis, Terrell Manning could be on the field to play some meaningful snaps. The Packers traded multiple draft picks to move up and draft Manning in the fifth round last year. Jamari Lattimore played well in training camp in 2012, but he's only had 38 defensive snaps in two NFL seasons. Green Bay also drafted Sam Barrington in the seventh round this year. The veteran of the group is 28-year-old Robert Francois, but he was exclusively a special teams player in 2012.

This will be an important season for Jones. He's never been expected to start 16 games before and he's never had to live up to a contract before. Jones will be compared all season to Bishop, and that won't be an easy battle to win. However, Jones showed last season that he can do a quality job as a starter, even when thrown into that role midseason. Now Jones needs to take another step in his development or at least replicate what he did last year.

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