The Minnesota Vikings ended their 2025 season with a win over the Green Bay Packers. A five-game winning streak to finish things, and a 9-8 final record, doesn't mask a lot of questions that are coming for the offseason.
The top two questions as the Vikings move to the offseason are about the future of defensive coordinator Brian Flores, which will be resolved in the coming weeks, and where J.J. McCarthy fits into the plan for 2026 (and beyond).
To be clear, McCarthy will be somewhere in the picture moving toward next season. It's just a matter of who is added to the depth chart around him and where that addition is on the scale of a threat to take the starting job. As it sits right now, not that it should be clear immediately, what that plan will be isn't clear.
2026 RB plan for Minnesota Vikings couldn't be clearer
In 2024, the Vikings had one of the least proficient run games in the NFL. Aaron Jones was fine as the clear-cut No. 1 back, but his shortcomings were obvious, and asking him to take on over 300 touches again as he entered his age-31 season was not sustainable.
So the Vikings were somewhere in the market for a running back when last offseason started, and they swung a March trade with the San Francisco 49ers for Jordan Mason. They also gave Mason a contract extension to fortify their commitment to him.
In Week 1, Mason showed why he would be the perfect complement to Jones. Then, when Jones landed on IR with a hamstring injury, Mason asserted himself even more as the Vikings' best running back.
After Jones first game back, Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers, he out-carried Mason 75-55 over the next seven games with 93 touches to Mason's 58. Mason held the edge in yards per carry over that span, 5.0 to Jones' 4.7.
Mason's early injury exit in Week 16 cost him the next game, paving the way for Jones to get 39 carries in those two games.
From Week 10 to Week 15, before he was injured early in Week 16 and missed Week 17, Mason averaged 5.3 yards per carry to Jones' 4.1. But he got double-digit carries in just two of those six contests, with six carries or fewer three times.
Jones missed the regular-season finale due to a hip injury. While the Packers resting most of their starters has to be taken into account, Mason looked good with 94 yards on 14 carries.
The Vikings signed Jones to a two-year deal in March, but they can clear $8 million in cap space (with a $6.8 million dead money hit) with a pre-June 1 cut. March 15 looks like the key date for that move, if it happens, when an additional $2 million of his 2026 salary becomes fully guaranteed.
Regardless, with their first-round pick in April falling where it will, the Vikings have a clear path forward for 2026 at one key offensive position.
Mason should be the RB1 next season. The only question is if it'll be Jones or a younger back as the No. 2 guy. Ideally, it'll be a younger guy (a Day 2 draft pick?) with far less of a financial obligation attached to him as the Vikings look for ways to trim some money this offseason.