During the past few offseasons, the Minnesota Vikings have made multiple roster moves that almost no one saw coming.
Most recently, the Vikings surprised the fan base when they traded veteran defensive lineman Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets before the start of the 2025 campaign.
Could another unexpected roster move be on the way for Minnesota at some point within the next few weeks as they head into free agency? Well, there's at least one recent prediction that could fall into this category.
During the latest episode of "The Viking Age Podcast", FanSided's Chris Schad shared that he thinks the Vikings are going to cut Jordan Mason this offseason. Schad went on to explain why he believes Minnesota will move on from Mason after only one year.
"I think Kevin O'Connell just does not like Jordan Mason because he doesn't bring a lot of value in the passing game. He's not explosive.
Like, here's the thing with the Vikings offense that [I think] they're trying to do; they don't want to be like a Tennessee Titans pound the ball with Derrick Henry type of team. They want efficiency on the ground, as opposed to run, run, run, run, run.
I think Aaron Jones provided that for a little bit when he first came to Minnesota. But last year, with all the injuries, he couldn't do that.
I don't think Jordan Mason has that explosiveness. He's more of a between-the-tackles runner.
[He's also] whiffed on a couple of pass protections. And we saw this with Ty Chandler, where if you cannot pass block and you can't catch the ball, you are not going to have a place [on the field]."
Should the Minnesota Vikings release Jordan Mason after only one season?
Last March, the Vikings acquired Mason in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers, and immediately awarded him with a two-year contract extension worth $12 million. Minnesota felt his arrival would help lighten the load a bit for Aaron Jones in 2025.
Mason got off to a solid start with the Vikings last season, as he rushed for 380 yards and four touchdowns in his first six games, four of which included him in the starting lineup while Jones spent time on the team's injured reserve list.
Once Jones returned, however, Mason saw his snaps take a significant hit, and his opportunities to make plays didn't happen as frequently.
In Weeks 1 through 7, he was on the field for 63.5 percent of Minnesota's offensive snaps. That snap rate then dropped to 29.4 percent for Mason in the Vikings' nine games between Weeks 8 and 16.
It's clear that Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell preferred to use Jones in the team's offensive backfield more than Mason last season, and if the Vikings have to pick between the two this year, it seems pretty obvious who they would choose to keep.
In an ideal world, if Minnesota were to release Mason this offseason, they would then be able to convince Jones to take a pay cut and also use an early-round pick in this year's NFL Draft to select a running back to complete their backfield duo for 2026.
Considering the Vikings' don't currently have a general manager, no one really knows what their plans are for the roster this offseason. Which is why Schad's predcition about Mason might not be so surprising after all.