For those celebrating Fantasy Football, you may be starting to prepare for your annual draft — for those in a re-draft league. If you’re a big Vikings fan, you are more than likely looking for Minnesota players to target, and a couple that are obvious would be Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
But neither of those two are on PFF’s ‘must draft’ list. Instead, it’s the Vikings newest running back, Aaron Jones.
When most fantasy football managers remember Aaron Jones’ 2023 campaign, they’re remembering a disappointing one. He missed six games over the year dealing with hamstring and knee injuries, as he’s notched just a single top-five finish in the year that came way back in Week 1. However, they might be forgetting Jones’ red-hot finish showcased from Week 15 on through the postseason, once he was finally healthy.
Over that six-game span, Jones led all running backs with a 90.9 rushing grade, averaging 5.5 yards per rush attempt and a whopping 120 scrimmage yards per game (fourth-most). His 32.8% first down/touchdown rate led all running backs with 50-plus carries in that span, while also ranking top-five with 3.8 yards after contact per attempt and a 25% missed forced tackle rate. So no, Jones is indeed not washed, even heading into his age-29 season. With limited competition in the Vikings backfield for touches (Ty Chandler, Kene Nwangwu), Jones could be in for a significant workload that well out-performs his fifth-round ADP.
Jones has battled injuries as a Packer, but there is no denying that he is a very talented running back. It’s something Minnesota has missed since letting Dalvin Cook walk away. Even though the Vikings are a passing football team with Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota will likely need to rely on its run game in 2024. The rushing attack will start with Jones.