Aaron Jones

More episodes

• Week 2Sep 21, 2026

  Aaron Jones — Week 2: Twenty-Three Carries, A Hundred Five

  Jones carried 23 times for 105 yards, all but two of the running-back carries with Jordan Mason on injured reserve, per CBS Sports, including a 20-yard run from his own four two snaps after Chicago fumbled at the one. He had seven carries on the drive to the last field goal and was not targeted, in a 9–3 win over the Bears.

• Week 1Sep 14, 2026

  Aaron Jones — Week 1: Three Yards for the First Lead

  Jones carried twelve times for forty yards and the three-yard touchdown around left end with six forty-two left that gave Minnesota its first lead, converted the only third-down carry either Vikings back took, and was thrown to once, incomplete. Jordan Mason carried fifteen times, in a 39–22 win over the Packers.

• Camp · Aug 31, 2026Aug 31, 2026

  Aaron Jones Camp Update — August 31: The Committee Cuts to Three

  Minnesota kept three backs on the initial fifty-three — Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason and rookie Demond Claiborne — the first hard fact this committee has produced. The starters rested in the finale, so the passing-down role we called Jones's floor got no test, and the preseason ends without one on the record.

• Camp · Aug 23, 2026Aug 23, 2026

  Aaron Jones Camp Update — August 23: Quiet Week as Claiborne Stacks Days

  Aaron Jones generated no attributable reporting this week and sat Saturday's game with the rest of the veterans — while rookie Demond Claiborne fumbled Wednesday, scored Thursday, and put up a clean nine-touch game. The committee question is aging in the rookie's favor.

• Camp · Aug 16, 2026Aug 17, 2026

  Aaron Jones Camp Update — August 16: Seventeen Yards Against the Washed Label

  Aaron Jones ripped a seventeen-yard run in the preseason win at the Giants, a healthy flash from a year-ten back in a still-undeclared committee. The June math on the aging curve hasn't been tested yet.

• 2026 PreviewJul 2, 2026

  Aaron Jones 2026 Season Preview — what repeats, what doesn't

  NO CALL — RB40 for a year-ten back whose fade math lands at RB40; the market priced the aging curve to the decimal.

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  Show notes & transcript

  Minnesota nearly moved on from Aaron Jones in March. Then it kept him at a 40-percent pay cut. Drafts run him out fortieth at the position, pick one-20 — and for a back entering year 10 off a hamstring season, the front office, the market, and the aging curve are all making the same call. Our job is to check their math.

  The season: 12 games around a hamstring injury and an injured-reserve stint, per CBS Sports — a hundred 32 carries for 548 yards, 4.2 a carry, 28 catches for a hundred 99, three touchdowns. 8.7 Half-PPR points a game, 30-third among backs per game, 40-third in total. The 28 catches came on 41 targets, and the split was real even when he was healthy: Mason out-carried him a hundred 59 to a hundred 32. Jones still averaged more per game than Mason, for whatever a part-time sample says — eight-seven to seven-six.

  The career deserves the respect of exact numbers: an 18.1 peak in 20-19, double-digit scoring every year from 20-18 through 20-24 — 12-seven a game as recently as the year before last, on 17 games. Then eight-seven. Year 10 is where those two facts fight. Before last season he had posted seven straight years in double figures, 20-18 through 20-24 — the durability of the scoring, if not the hamstrings, was remarkable for the position.

  The pattern math, plainly: backs in career year five or beyond fade about 1.1 Half-PPR points a game — n of 71, directional, our weakest but most relevant pattern — and 1.1 off eight-seven lands at seven-six. Seven-six a game last season ranked… fortieth. The fade lands him exactly where he's priced. His touchdown share is low, so there's nothing extra to unwind; and the 28 catches in 12 games say the passing-down skill — the one that ages last and pays half a point each in this format — is still on the books.

  The situation: ESPN reported in early March that Minnesota would trade or cut him; instead he took the revised deal — nine million down to five and a half, per NFL.com. The room got framed all spring as Mason's to lead with Jones as the veteran passing-down half, per Yahoo and Zone Coverage in June, with sixth-round rookie Demond Claiborne added behind them, per the team site. Jones spent late June publicly pushing back on the washed label, per Heavy. The room's rookie, Demond Claiborne, cost a trade-up — the same conviction signal we flagged in Mason's episode, aimed at both their workloads. Zone Coverage's June read says the roles may stay undefined into the season — which, for a year-10 back, is its own kind of verdict. The quarterback — Murray or McCarthy — is unresolved, which muddies every projection in this backfield equally.

  The price: RB40 for a year-10 back whose fade math lands at RB40. The slot assumes spot-start value with bye-week utility — the passing-down role delivers exactly that, if he keeps it. Our verdict: no call — the market priced the aging curve nearly to the decimal, and we checked the decimal. The caveat, both ways: if the passing-down role is truly his, Half-PPR hands him a floor this price never asks for; if the rookie takes it, year-10 backs don't get mid-season second chances.

  Watch the passing-down snap split in September, and his touch count in the first three weeks — veteran phase-outs announce themselves early. They start on the play sheet before anyone says a word out loud. He's one of your guys? This show covers your whole roster — every player, every week, all season.