In 2017, El Paso native Aaron Jones was predicted to get drafted anywhere from the third to the fifth round. Jones had to wait until the final day of the NFL Draft to hear his name called.
At first, he received a phone call from the Baltimore Ravens expressing their interest in taking him in a later round with their next pick. Three and a half hours after the phone call, a Wisconsin area code rang him up. Jones was selected with the 39th pick of the fifth round and 182 overall.
Flash-forward to Jones’ return to his home state. Now a five-year full-time starter, Jones did what many believed was the impossible, destroying the Dallas Cowboys defense and leading the Packers as the first seventh seed to win in NFL playoff history.
Playing in front of many family members and close friends, Jones rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns. It was Jones’ fourth consecutive game with at least 100 rushing yards; he scored four touchdowns against his childhood team in 2019. With his triple touchdown performance, Jones surpassed Edgar Bennett for the Packers’ team record for most career postseason touchdown runs (seven in six games). Additionally, he now has three career playoff games with two-plus touchdowns, joining only Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Franco Harris, John Riggins, and Terrell Davis.
“You guys see it, right? Just his ability to put his foot in the ground and just be explosive, make people miss,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Jones, via the team’s official transcript. “I can’t say enough great things about the guy, the football player. What he means to our team. The leadership he brings. He’s a rare guy. There are not many like him. Just how he encourages his teammates, how he uplifts his teammates.”
Jones is the first El Paso player drafted in the NFL since Fordham quarterback and Burges Mustang John Skelton was selected in the fifth round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2010.
With Burgees in El Paso, Jones was a two-way athlete, amassing more than 1,800 yards rushing for 30 touchdowns on the offense and recording 74 tackles, one interception, and two forced fumbles on the defensive side of the ball.
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