It's been roughly three weeks since the Green Bay Packers' season came to an abrupt conclusion in the NFC Divisional Round.
As the snow fell, so too did the top-seeded Packers to the upstart San Francisco 49ers, and with the end of Green Bay's season came the onset of another offseason awaiting what was next for quarterback Aaron Rodgers .
For the other Aaron in Titletown, running back Aaron Jones, inside news has been impossible to come by, but he believes Rodgers will be back in green and gold in 2022.
“I’ve heard what everybody else has heard, what they're reading," Jones said Tuesday on NFL Total Access Live. "But I think he'll be there, in my heart. Green Bay, I can’t imagine him anywhere else, that's where he's been his whole career. I just can't picture him anywhere else. I think we had a lot of fun this year, I hope to have him back and I believe in my heart he'll be back."
The entirety of Rodgers' career thus far -- which includes 10 Pro Bowl selections and three (for now) AP NFL Most Valuable Player accolades -- has been spent with the Packers. The duration of Jones' career has been spent in Green Bay -- and in the same backfield with Rodgers -- as well, though there was some doubt last offseason before the tailback signed a four-year deal with the club.
The aforementioned news Jones has presumably heard is that Rodgers met with the Packers staff following the playoffs loss for a long discussion on what's next. Since then, Rodgers has let it be known that "everything is on the table" and the Packers brass has made it known it wants the QB back.
While there's a similar feel already to last offseason, there isn't the same disharmony as existed in 2021.
Jones believes that's credited to the amount of fun had by the Packers during the season -- at least until their upset loss.
“We had a lot of veterans in there. Just the way we were able bring along some of those younger guys and over the course of it have fun and be ourselves and come closer, all in that time, it was just fun to be around," Jones said. "I think it brought joy back to football.”
But will the Packers be able to bring their starting QB back to Green Bay? That remains the lingering question and one that Jones believes in his heart will be answered with a Rodgers return.