The Green Bay Packers have moved on from a number of key players over the last few seasons. Of course Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers highlighted the last two off-seasons, but those type of moves poured into 2024 with the release of David Bakhtiari and Aaron Jones.
Even though Bakhtiari hasn’t signed with a new team yet, he is very likely to be on an NFL roster at some point in 2024. However, one of these stars may be riding the bench at some point during this upcoming season.
Former Green Bay Packers Star May Be Benched In 2024
In signing Jones, the Vikings potentially weaken an NFC North Division competitor while also upgrading their own backfield. Nevertheless, it remains a question whether Jones is really a step up from third-year RB Ty Chandler at this point in his career, or if he is just the Week 1 starter as an insurance policy in case his young colleague’s development slows down unexpectedly.
“The Real Forno Show” podcast, hosted by Tyler Forness of Sporting News, explored this question on July 12:
Could Ty Chandler overtake Aaron Jones sometime this season? I talked about it on the latest episode of @RealFornoShow @Vikings1stSKOL pic.twitter.com/kRR45fZiLQ
— Tyler Forness (@TheRealForno) July 12, 2024
“I’m interested to see if maybe Ty Chandler can overtake Aaron Jones at some point this year,” Forness said. “I don’t think it’s happening early. I don’t think it’s happening in training camp. But it could happen, because the Vikings love Chandler. He’s young — and he may not be as young age-wise, because I believe now he’s 26 years old — but he’s young as far as tread on the tires.”
Max Dible of Heavy On Vikings further highlighted what this position battle could look like:
Chandler turned 26 years old in May, though he has only been in the NFL for the past two seasons. The Vikings selected him in the fifth round (No. 169 overall) out of North Carolina after a five-year collegiate career, the first four campaigns of which he spent at Tennessee.
Chandler rushed the ball 603 times across 59 games played at the college level, which computes to less than 121 ground attempts per season and just over 10 carries per contest. He never eclipsed 200 carries in a single year and only surpassed 135 rushes once, which came during his final collegiate campaign.
The Vikings offered Chandler considerable rest during his rookie campaign as the third-string back behind Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison. Chandler ended up carrying the football just six times in his initial professional season.
