Until March, Aaron Jones had only known what it was like to be a member of one NFL franchise — the Green Bay Packers.

The star running back walked off the Lambeau Field turf in January following a game against the Chicago Bears. But, little did Jones know that the game against the NFC North division rival would be his last time in a Packers uniform.

“To be honest,” Jones told reporters on Wednesday, “my last time I walked out of there, I thought I was coming back.” Jones racked up 5,940 rushing yards over his seven-year stint with the Packers. The team released him on March 11, but just one day later, he landed with the Minnesota Vikings.

But Jones appears to have turned the page and he is off to a good start in Minnesota. The undefeated Vikings travel to Green Bay this weekend for a matchup with the Packers, setting up a situation that Jones described as a “full-circle moment.”

“I was here (in Minnesota) already,” Jones said. “Kind of working on myself, working with my new teammates, but just even then it was like, ‘Wow, I’m back in Green Bay. This is kind of like a full-circle moment. Who thought I would’ve been here packing my stuff up, but I am and ready for this new adventure.’ So that was kind of that moment.”

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Although Jones might be content with his current team, he admittedly still has “a chip on my shoulder.”

“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder since I’ve been playing football,” Jones said. “I feel like I’ve always been overlooked or underrated.” The Packers cut ties with Jones just one year after he agreed to a salary reduction. He also finished the 2023 campaign in impressive fashion, which made his release more surprising.

Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones (33) takes a Lambeau Leap following a first quarter rushing touchdown on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

However, the Pro Bowl running back seems to be more than happy to send a message to his former team on Sunday.

“If you’re not thinking about the end zone,” Jones said, “you’re thinking about the wrong thing. And I’m definitely leaping. I’m definitely leaping up there,” Jones said in a nod to the famous Lambeau Leap celebration.

Dec 31, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones (33) is pursued by Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) and cornerback Akayleb Evans (21) as tight end Ben Sims (89) blocks during the game at U.S. Bank Stadium. (Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports)

Jones added that if he does find his way into the end zone, he will leap toward someone wearing purple.

“Hopefully,” he said, “there’s a Vikings fan in one of them so I can jump up to them. I think that would be a cool shot, a pretty cool side by side of the two jerseys doing a Lambeau Leap.”

Jones’ feelings simply add fuel to the Vikings and Packers rivalry, but the running back is well aware that the NFL is a ultimately a business.

“I understand it’s a business,” Jones said. “I made a lot of great relationships there. I have a lot of respect for the people there and the relationships that I made there, and it’s nothing but love. I understand it’s a business, and at some point you’ve got to make business decisions. It may be a hard decision, but you’ve got to make a decision and live with it.”

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In this week’s episode of “Friday Night live,” Banning football standout Steven Perez talks about beginning Marine League play next week.

Perez grew up in Wilmington and understands how big the game is in the community. Banning opens next week at Narbonne.

Major League Baseball didn’t ask for Hurricane Helene to interrupt what is shaping up to be two fantastic wild-card races. But the league isn’t blameless in avoiding the worst-case scenario announced Wednesday: the potential for the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets to play a doubleheader Monday, the day before postseason play begins.

The ripple effects of the announced postponement of Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games, a series that could decide both teams’ seasons, are enormous. The competitive disadvantages of playing 18 innings before a Wild Card Series can’t be overstated. (Though if, somehow, one or both games aren’t needed then they won’t be played.)

Could it have been avoided?

Maybe.

MLB has the power to force logistics, to force both teams to play when and where it wants, so long as the union is in agreement. But traditionally, it has tried to appease both teams and, in this case, that was impossible. The storm set to shut down Atlanta for two days was preceded by the perfect storm of events to make this a massive headache for the league.

Thursday’s game is a makeup of an April 10 game that was postponed after the Mets had gone through pregame preparations and taken batting practice and they weren’t willing to come back earlier and burn an off day. So they petitioned MLB to tack on the game to this September series, not only an unusually long wait for a makeup game but also a function of a more balanced schedule in which division teams play each other less, and complicate rescheduling opportunities. (The Braves agreed to the proposition.)

To all of our fans throughout Braves Country that will be impacted by Hurricane Helene, please stay safe. pic.twitter.com/AZ99CPQ7BJ

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 25, 2024

The Mets would likely not have been keen to move Thursday’s game up to this past Monday, another shared off day between the two clubs, as they were coming off a Sunday night game.

The Braves were concerned about the sold-out crowds expected, and earlier in the week the forecast had made it seem feasible for Wednesday’s game to be played, a possibility that got more remote as the weather forecast worsened. Tuesday, when the league mulled a time change, the forecast looked better in the evening. It started raining shortly after noon Wednesday in Atlanta, and pushing up the start time of the game would have mattered little, unless the two teams agreed to an unprecedented morning start. (MLB doesn’t like to start games that are unlikely to go at least five innings.)

Both teams — in contention but yet to clinch a playoff spot — were ultimately looking out for their own best interests, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. What is up for debate is whether the league, which started discussions with both teams Monday, should have acted more boldly with its power and forced the series to play at a neutral site or changed the schedule entirely with a game Monday and two more Tuesday. Perhaps.

On one hand, the weather forecast looked vastly different earlier this week, and all three parties thought Wednesday’s game wouldn’t be an issue. The hurricane isn’t hitting Atlanta until Thursday, with schools closed Thursday and Friday, and the possibility of one makeup game — not two — seemed considerably less daunting. The decision to change the series would have had to come Sunday at the latest when it wasn’t even clear how bad the storm would be and whether Atlanta would be in its path.

It would have been unprecedented — and also a logistical nightmare — to decide earlier this week to move all of or part of the series to a neutral site, one that would have required both teams to be on board and be proactive, which wasn’t the case. For a series with big stakes, it’s understandable that the league didn’t want to pull the plug on a highly anticipated sellout series.

It would have angered at least one, and probably both teams, to change the layout of the series to give them back Thursday’s off day, particularly as it became clear to everyone involved that Thursday wasn’t going to be feasible. But as the regular season winds down and numerous teams are fighting for their playoff lives, it also might have been better in this case to be safe than sorry. That might have required doing the unpleasant and unprecedented thing, even if both teams were upset about it, and decide to move up a series even when the weather report wasn’t crystallized.

Because the flip side is a nightmare, and it could be even more complicated if the AL wild card hopeful Kansas City Royals, who are slated to play in Atlanta this weekend, have travel issues getting in. (If they can’t play Friday, that would almost certainly be a Saturday doubleheader.)

MLB has — in recent years — set the schedule so that every single team plays at the same time Sunday to conclude the regular season. It creates excitement, drama and you can make the case that it evens the competitive field as best as possible. Everyone gets to reset Monday. Unless you’re the Braves or Mets, who could be looking at filling out 18 innings as a way to prepare for a do-or-die Wild Card Series that could start on the road.

The only hope now, for both teams and the league, is Arizona fades and renders those games meaningless enough that they don’t get played. (It’s widely assumed both teams would prefer the off day than to play for a mere playoff seed.) The alternative is bad for the Braves, bad for the Mets and just bad for baseball.

(Photo: Kevin D. Liles / Atlanta Braves / Getty Images)