As the first week of 2025 NFL free agency winds down, the Minnesota Vikings made a notable move. Running back Jordan Mason has been acquired from the San Francisco 49ers, for a 2026 sixth-round pick with a swap of picks in this year's draft as part of the deal. Mason is also going to sign a two-year contract with the Vikings.
The Vikings were in the market for a running back to pair with Aaron Jones, who signed a two-year deal to return to Minnesota. As potential acquisitions go, Mason is on the higher end of possibilities to the point it didn't seem very likely.
Of course, there are fantasy football implications.
Last season, depending on your scoring format, Jones finished as the RB14 (full PPR), RB15 (0.5-point PPR) or RB16 (standard scoring) in fantasy. He also did that on a career-high in carries (255), touches (306) and offensive snaps (700), with seven total touchdowns (five rushing, two receiving). Entering his age-31 season, the Vikings would naturally like to better manage, if not outright reduce, Jones' workload.
Mason missed the final five games of last season due to an ankle injury, and his production generally faded due to a shoulder injury after a nice start filling in for an injured Christian McCaffrey (100-plus rushing yards in three of the first four games). But he was a top-10 fantasy running back across the board (standard scoring, 0.5-point PPR, full PPR) from Week 1-7.
Arrival of Jordan Mason is bad for Minnesota Vikings RB Aaron Jones' fantasy value in 2025
Mason finished sixth in the league (among running backs) in yards per carry last season (5.2). According to Next Gen Stats, he finished third in the league in Rushing Yards Over Expected Per Attempt (1.38), despite facing the second-highest rate (33.3 percent) of stacked boxes (eight or more defenders). Jones faced a stacked box nearly 50 percent less (18.4 percent of the time).
On short yardage attempts (1-3 yards to go) last season, Mason averaged 5.3 yards per carry. In those same situations (1-3 yards to go), Jones averaged 2.9 yards per carry. As a team, the Vikings also averaged just 2.9 yards per carry on those short yardage rush attempts last season. So Mason is lined up to fill a notable void in the Vikings' offense.
Jones was top 10 in the league in percentage share of his team's red zone rushing attempts last season, which stood up inside the 10 and 5-yard lines as well with rates two-thirds or better within those marks.
On the other hand, Mason had just one fewer red zone rushing touchdown than Jones (three) on a noticeably lower rate of his team's attempts. If he had played the final five games, and more than 25 total offensive snaps over a four-game stretch, he may have landed top 10 in the league in red zone carries.
Jones needed the volume (touches and snaps) he got last season to finish as around a top-15 fantasy running back. He has 13 rushing touchdowns over the last four seasons, and was notably less proficient than Mason was last season in short yardage situations.
With little production as a pass catcher in his career, how much Mason eats into Jones' overall touch volume is unclear. But the role he was primarily acquired to fill could not be much clearer, and if we're leaving aside names to determine who is the better runner it might not be Jones.
In fantasy terms, Mason could be brushed off as simply the handcuff to Jones. But more than that, like closer to an equal split of touches, is possible with Mason taking a good share of goal line work. Any way you slice it, Mason being the Vikings' new RB2 is a solid blow to Jones' fantasy outlook for 2025.