Josh Jones is skipping Packers OTAs in effort to force a trade, per report

When the Green Bay Packers started Organized Team Activities on Monday, there was apparently one individual conspicuously absent from the voluntary practices. That player is third-year safety Josh Jones, a player who has struggled to find a role on the Packers’ defense through his first two seasons.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Jones is skipping OTAs and wants to be traded to another team. This decision apparently comes on the heels of the Packers using significant resources to acquire a pair of safeties in the offseason — free agent Adrian Amos and first-round draft pick Darnell Savage, Jr.

This is not the first sign that Jones is unhappy with his role in Green Bay. Last October, he spoke up in an interview on the Clubhouse Live show to express displeasure with his lack of playing time early on in the season, particularly after being a healthy scratch for the first three games of the campaign. Jones did end up taking a larger role as the season went on, driven in large part by the midseason departures of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Jermaine Whitehead and injuries to several other defensive backs.

Still, Jones played just 500 snaps on defense in the Packers’ first season under coordinator Mike Pettine in 2018, less than half of the team’s total. That was a notable drop from his rookie year, when he was on the field for more than two-thirds of the team’s defensive snaps, second among defensive backs only to Clinton-Dix. Playing time will likely be even tougher to come by in 2019 with the new additions in the fold, so perhaps a change of scenery will be his best option.

In 29 career games (12 starts), Jones has recorded 122 total tackles, three sacks, seven pass disruptions, and one interception.