March 17th, 2014: James Jones signs a three-year contract with the Oakland Raiders worth $11.3 million, signaling he likely had performed the last Lambeau Leap of his career. Eleven days later on March 28th, the New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount would also switch teams by signing a two-year, $3.85 million contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After week six last season LeGarrette Blount had a nice 4.84 yards per carry average for the Steelers, but only had 44 carries for 213 yards and two touchdowns up to that point. Meanwhile, after their week six game, Blount's old team was about to find out that their lead running back, Stevan Ridley, had suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

When Blount signed with the Steelers, he was under the assumption that he would be in for a timeshare with Le'Veon Bell. The lack of playing time would start to boil over and after only a little over half of a season Blount walked off the field before the Steelers clinched their week 11 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Already frustrated with his off the field actions, the Steelers acted quickly and cut their frustrated RB2. The Patriots swiftly signed Blount two days later.

Jones' story is similar to Blount's but obviously without the off the field and locker room issues. After putting up decent numbers his only season with the Raiders, including a career high in catches, he was cut a couple months after the season ended. After Jones signed and then was cut by the Giants in the preseason, similar to the Patriots and Blount last year, the Packers wasted no time and immediately brought back the familiar face of James Jones to replace their starter lost for the season to an ACL injury. 

Blount hit the ground running in New England. Three days after signing with the Patriots he lead the team in carries with 12 of the team's 20 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Blount would end up providing stability to the Patriots backfield as Ridley's replacement. He also had a solid 4.7 yards per carry average and had a carrier high 30 carries in the playoffs against the Colts and also tacked on three scores that game. He wasn't a superstar for the Patriots last year and outside of one or two games, he didn't even carry most of the offensive load, but that was fine, he didn't need to do that. What he provided - most importantly - was someone that the team trusted with the playing time.

The addition of Blount was an important one for the Patriots' Super Bowl run last season. The Packers are hoping they can find a similar story with James Jones.

If nothing else, James Jones represents to the Packers what Blount did last season for the Patriots: a sense of security, a level of comfort, and one less unknown. Repeatability is easy to work with, even if it doesn't come with the upside of some of the younger guys. By knowing what you have with Jones each and every week and not having to compensate for him, you can continue your game plan the way you would previously.

Simply having LeGarrette Blount allowed the Patroits to continue using guys like Edelman and Vereen in the exact same ways they were before. They didn't have to ask them to do anything extra. Similarly for the Packers, they can now continue to use Eddie Lacy, Richard Rodgers, and Randall Cobb in the same ways and rolls they were before. They also don't have to thrust a player like Janis or Montgomery into a role that doesn't fit them or that they simply aren't ready for. No matter the final stats for Jones, those last two things cannot be understated.

There's a lot of similarities between the Blount signing of 2014 and the James Jones signing of 2015. Right down to both players getting a starting role the week they signed and putting up two touchdowns in solid performances. Lets hope Jones can continue to have a similar impact on the Packers' Super Bowl run this year as Blount did on the Patriots last year.