Vikings Execute Plan Beneficial for Retaining Critical Free Agent
The Minnesota Vikings have a long list of impending free agents, certainly led by quarterback Sam Darnold after his Pro Bowl season. Despite his late-season downfall, he showed that he is a competent starting quarterback in the league. Another Pro Bowler who could be on the move is cornerback Byron Murphy.
Vikings Execute Plan Beneficial for Retaining Critical Free Agent
Aaron Jones, Minnesota’s top running back in the 2024 season, missed out on the Pro Bowl despite recording a season with more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage. He went to the event once with the Packers.
One year after switching between the NFL North rivals, Jones is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in March. His contract was set to void on Monday, February 17th, but the club and the player agreed to move that date.
ESPN’s Field Yates reported:
The Vikings and RB Aaron Jones agreed to move the void date on his contract from this Monday until the final day before free agency. If Jones had not been extended by Monday, the team would have taken on $3.2M in dead money in 2025.
This expands the window for Jones and Minnesota to continue to negotiate a new deal that would avoid that amount hitting the cap in full for 2025.
It doesn’t guarantee a new deal will be reached, but it buys time for both sides if there is interest in hammering one out before free agency.
That, indeed, doesn’t guarantee anything. The Vikings performed the same move with defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson in 2023. He left the Vikings for the Cleveland Browns, where he received a huge raise.
Jones played quite well in year one with the Vikings. He appeared in all 18 games and posted single-season career highs in carries and rushing yards.
Kevin O’Connell endorsed a Jones return a few days ago, “The big thing for me is we loved having Aaron Jones; the impact he had. He was really, for the better part of his career, part of backfield committees, and for the most part, Aaron Jones was the featured back, played 17 games, he was able to be durable, over 1,500 yards all-purpose for us, catching the ball out of the backfield, running it at an elite level, so I would love to have Aaron back.”
The veteran was hired as an upgrade over Alexander Mattison, and he undoubtedly provided a boost as Minnesota’s RB1.
That statement and taking action about the void date surely suggests that Jones will be back.
“And then I just think we continue to grow in that room, whether it’s infusing a young player in the draft or maybe another player in free agency alongside Aaron Jones, hopefully,” O’Connell added. “I think we will continue to grow in our run game; we’ll continue to grow to being a complete offense, which is very important.”
Cam Akers played on a one-year contract, too, leaving only Ty Chandler and Zavier Scott on the roster.
The plan seems to bring Jones back but pair him with another competent rusher. That makes a lot of sense, considering Jones’ age of 30 and the fact that he sustained a few minor injuries that cost him some efficiency and made him unavailable in the second half of a couple of games.
Whether that RB2 will arrive in free agency or the draft remains to be seen.
Some of the intriguing committee candidates in free agency are J.K. Dobbins, Jaylen Warren, Javonte Williams, and Raheem Mostert.
In addition to that, April’s draft class is one of the best running back classes ever, and the Vikings could easily find a solid rusher if they were willing to spend one of their few draft picks.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt