The Minnesota Vikings needed to find a way to ease Aaron Jones' workload after the 2024 season, and they found an ideal-looking complement to him when they traded for Jordan Mason.
The overall lack of proficiency from the Vikings' offense impacted everyone last season, and Kevin O'Connell's affinity for Jones helped tilt the backfield workload toward him despite Mason being the more efficient runner.
The Vikings added the intriguing Demond Claiborne to their running back mix in the draft this year, but Jones was surprisingly retained, and the rookie is a real threat to his workload. Mason, rooted in his inability as a pass blocker, is not going to get much passing-down work.
That also means Mason's role, as unideal as it seems to be in fantasy terms with a lack of passing game work, is not going to be notably threatened by anyone else. That in itself is valuable when shaping our fantasy outlooks for 2026.
Minnesota Vikings RB Jordan Mason gets some fresh juice as a 2026 fantasy sleeper
Mason has become an analytics darling, landing in the top six in Rushing Yards Over Expected Per Carry in each of the last two seasons according to Next Gen Stats. Last season, he was 10th in yards after contact per attempt (3.41) and seventh in rushing success rate among running backs with at least 100 carries.
Despite having a noticeably higher share of the Vikings' red zone carries than he did of the 49ers' red zone carries during his last year there, Mason had six fewer red zone carries last season. But all six of his touchdowns last year came in that area of the field, and five of the six came from inside the 10-yard line.
As the 2026 fantasy draft season inches closer, Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus led a fresh list of sleeper running backs with Mason.
"Mason has been one of the NFL's most efficient running backs since entering the league in 2022. His 91.3 rushing grade over the past four seasons ranks 10th among all running backs.
He has averaged 5.1 yards per carry, 3.4 yards after contact per carry, and a first down or touchdown on 26.6 percent of his runs, all ranking third among the 56 running backs with at least 300 carries. He is also the only running back in that group with a positive grade on more than half of his carries.
That efficiency has translated to fantasy success whenever he's been given a lead-back role. Mason ranked as the RB10 in PPR leagues over the first seven weeks of 2024 while Christian McCaffrey was sidelined, and he averaged 14.5 PPR points per game across four starts for Minnesota last season, 16th among running backs during that stretch."
Jahnke noted how the Vikings offense should automatically be better with Kyler Murray (assuming he's the starter) under center, and the offensive line will ideally be far healthier than it was last season. Jones has also missed at least five games in two of the last three seasons, and (per Jahnke), at 31 years old, he is the second-oldest running back who's currently in line to make a 53-man roster.
"Mason is expected to handle most of the goal-line work, so a more productive offense should directly benefit his fantasy value. It should also create more fourth-quarter rushing opportunities, an area where Minnesota ranked below average in 2025."
Jahnke ultimately set Mason aside as one of the top handcuff options in fantasy, while noting the strong possibility of standalone value even if Jones manages to stay healthy.
Based on current ADP as of this writing, via Fantasy Pros, Mason and Jones are right next to each other in high-to-mid-RB4 territory for 12-team leagues.
Standard scoring: Jones-RB41; Mason-RB42
0.5-point PPR: Mason-RB39; Jones-RB40
Full PPR: Jones-RB39; Mason-RB40
But would you rather have the younger, more efficient back who might get double-digit rushing touchdowns, or the back who's entering his age-32 season and feels like a lock to miss time? We were probably saying similar things around this time last year, but Mason's path to actually delivering this year seems to be a notch or two easier.
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