Aaron Jones‘ one-year deal with the Vikings contained four void years to lessen the blow on Minnesota’s 2024 cap sheet. February 17 was a crucial date for the contract, as Jones would have officially hit free agency while leaving the Vikings with a notable dead cap hit in 2025.
Both sides bought themselves some time this morning. ESPN’s Field Yates reports that Jones and the Vikings agreed to move the upcoming void date to March 11, the day before free agency officially opens.
As Yates notes, this provides the two sides some extra time to negotiate a new contract before free agency. Today’s deadline adjustment doesn’t guarantee that the running back will re-sign with the organization. Still, it certainly bodes better for Jones’ future in Minnesota than if the front office had simply let the void years hit on Monday.
After spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Packers, Jones inked a one-year, $7MM deal with the Vikings last offseason. Thanks to those previously mentioned void years, the veteran RB was only attached to a $3.5MM cap hit in 2024. However, that contract construct also meant the Vikings were on the hook for a $3.5MM dead cap for 2025 if Jones didn’t stick around. That pseudo-financial commitment will likely have some influence on how the Vikings front office approaches the position this offseason, as it will likely make more financial sense to retain Jones than pivot to another veteran.
Beyond the financial commitment, it sounds like both Jones and the Vikings were happy with their one-year partnership. We heard recently that the 30-year-old wants to keep playing in Minnesota, and coach Kevin O’Connell has publicly expressed interest in retaining his RB1 (via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert).
The Vikings got as much as they could out of Jones during the 2024 season, handing the RB a career-high 306 touches. While Jones’ efficiency took a bit of a hit this past season, he still put up impressive counting stats, particularly his 1,546 yards from scrimmage. Considering his 2024 workload, Seifert cautions that the Vikings could be eyeing more of a committee-style approach to their RBs room in 2025.
He is an excellent rb that needs better blocking and more use of a fb.
Expecting Jones to be as healthy as he was in 2024 going forward is foolish.
He was dinged up nearly every game…
This draft has a whole bunch of backs who could at least be a tandem back. Jones is an ideal back to pair with a young one. I don’t think anyone has any illusions that he’s going to stay healthy a whole season or last too many more years, but he’s still a good all around player who’s beloved off the field.
Seems as though he will not hit the market. Easily the best RB FA this year though, not sure why his agent wouldn’t take him to market.
Age, really. If he were, say, 26 or 27, things would probably be different and Jones would be more expensive, too. As it stands now, a 30 year old back who saw a lot of snaps is a gamble for a team to sign to longer term deals. Jones has familiarity and success with the Vikings, and Minnesota knows that Jones was a big part of their unexpected blossoming this year. As Oof pointed above, Jones is still effective and it would make sense to pair him for one more year with another younger back to be his successor.
Jones brings versatility to an offense too, with pass protection and pass catching chops to contribute on nearly any kind of play. The Vikings gave him a good contract last year, and he lived up to it-if they don’t make a good enough offer this time (I would expect them to put a good offer in), then Jones will be just fine pushing it off. Given that he has four void years and the Vikes will likely be trying to run it back with their unexpected surprise tandem on offense again, I would definitely expect them to want to re-up with Jones to make it happen.