Out of Nowhere Vikings Trade Hits as Bad News for Two Vikings
Out of nowhere, there was a Vikings trade on Saturday night.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah decided that retaining Aaron Jones wasn’t enough. Beefing up the running back room with Jordan Mason, a 49er, was deemed necessary. Check out the news as relayed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter: “Trade: 49ers are trading Jordan Mason to the Minnesota Vikings. Viking are signing Mason to a 2-year deal with over $7 million fully guaranteed at signing with a maximum value of $12m. Negotiated by Jason & Michael Katz.”
The Sudden Vikings Trade & The Bad News for a Pair of Players
Suddenly, Jones has a backup who can do some serious damage.
Mason has a very sturdy build, coming in at 5’11” and weighing 223 pounds. In May, he’ll turn 26, so he still has quite a bit of youth left in his legs and lungs (Jones will be turning 31 in December).
Across his three-year career, Mason is sitting on 236 carries, 1,253 yards, and 7 touchdowns. Keep in mind that he offered that production within the Kyle Shanahan offense, a coach who is a brilliant tactician when it comes to running the football. Nevertheless, the numbers are encouraging, especially the career average of picking up 5.3 yards per carry.
Kevin O’Connell seems very likely to be enthused about the new addition. So, too, should J.J. McCarthy be pleased. Playing NFL quarterback becomes a whole lot easier when the ground game is dangerous.
But it’s not all positive for all Vikings. In particular, one thinks of Ty Chandler and Cam Akers. The first name belongs to someone who is still on the roster and the second name belongs to someone who may have been trying to come back.
Consider how Janik Eckardt of PurplePTSD framed the problem that’s now ahead of Chandler: “That surely put Ty Chandler on notice. Another player who’s entering his fourth season might be the odd man out. He is now the RB3 on the roster, and one more addition in the draft or free agency would lead to him being a long shot in making the 53-man roster.”
At the end of the 2023 season, Chandler climbed up to being Minnesota’s RB1. The promising development was largely the result of his blazing speed, one of his great gifts as a football player. But then he got demoted to RB2 going into 2024 with the addition of Jones. Even worse, an in-season trade to re-acquire Akers moved him down to RB3.
If a runner gets drafted in the 2025 NFL Draft, then Chandler will be facing an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster.
And then one thinks of Mr. Akers.
The 25-year-old runner has overcome quite a bit in his career, getting hit hard by some major injuries. Minnesota has traded for him in consecutive seasons, speaking to Akers’ resilience and work ethic. The injuries haven’t undermined his ability to play NFL football; Minnesota, in turn, has sought him out to help with running the football.
Last season, though, he averaged a 4.3 yards per carry (Chandler was sitting at a 3.3 yards-per-carry average). Jordan Mason’s 5.2 yards-per-carry average from 2024 is quite a bit more optimistic.
Mr. Akers isn’t at the end of his NFL journey. Finding further employment in Minnesota, though, seems unlikely at this stage.
In a separate tweet, Schefter clarified the cost of putting horns on Jordan Mason’s helmet: “Full trade, per sources: Minnesota sends a 2026 6th-round pick and pick No. 160 this year to San Francisco. San Francisco sends RB Jordan Mason and pick No. 187 to Minnesota.”
Coming to Minnesota seems likely to be a good thing for the former San Francisco runner. The upside for Mason is that signing a two-year deal means that he’ll still be young when he gets the next chance to cash-in. He has made less than $2.5 million in his career, so he’s already getting a nice raise. The benefit to doing the shorter deal is that he’s able to cash-in on the upside he has shown while positioning himself to secure a huge payday as a 27-year-old if he does excellently as a Viking.
Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason are a strong pair of runners, which is good news for Minnesota. Ty Chandler and Cam Akers, though, will have a more difficult time of earning a role with the 2025 Vikings.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.
