The Packers tried to lowball Nelson figuring he'd accept just to stay a Packer. If they would have bumped it up another 2 million he may have stayed. Hindsight says yeah it may have been time to move on but no one knows what he may have been able to do in familiar surroundings with a HOF QB still throwing him the ball.What should they have learned from the Jordy situation? Even in the rear view mirror it looks like it was time. And that could happen with Jones, but his time isn't up yet imho. And any money Aaron gets paid; you have to realize that the bonus money has already been spent and really should not be a part of the negotiations except maybe the year in which it's paid. Which is why I think a two year now and thereafter one year deals. Assuming he is still a good player.
As far as Jones goes I had originally put in my post that the difference between he and Nelson is that I don't think Jones is as near to the end of his production as Nelson was. We agree on that.
I also originally put in some ideas as to what a potential deal could look like. My first thought was to convert most of his 11 million salary to a signing bonus on a 2 year extension that would spread that out over 3 years and knock 6 million off the cap hit for 2024. What I wasn't sure of is how the void years get treated on an extension.