After a disastrous class at the position last season, the arrival of Kyler Murray as the quarterback for 2026 is good news for all involved in the Minnesota Vikings' passing game. And in a broader sense, the entire offense can only be more efficient, proficient and successful.
So it's no surprise, as Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus rounded up fantasy football winners and losers from the first week of NFL free agency, "the entire Minnesota Vikings passing game" landed in the winners category.
That, of course, includes Murray, with how Kevin O'Connell has previously elevated quarterbacks and the aforementioned talent around him (Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson) in mind.
Biggest Minnesota Vikings fantasy football loser from free agency is absolutely clear
After sharing his winners, Jahnke moved on to his biggest losers from around the NFL after the the first few days of free agency this offseason, which included Vikings running back Jordan Mason.
"Mason appeared destined to join Bhayshul Tuten and Zach Charbonnet as running backs who could see less competition for touches in 2026.
There were reports that the Vikings would release or trade Aaron Jones. Minnesota similarly missed out on all of the top free-agent running backs, and all of the remaining options were unlikely to provide as much competition for touches.
Instead, the Vikings and Jones agreed to a pay cut, allowing him to stay in Minnesota. Mason was the higher graded of the two running backs, particularly in the run game. Mason had an 82.9 PFF grade compared to Jones' 69.5.
Despite this, Jones played 57.8% of the offensive snaps over the last four weeks of the season compared to Mason's 18.4%, while Zavier Scott, Ty Chandler and fullback C.J. Ham also played some snaps.
Jones is 31 years old and has missed time due to injury in two of the last three seasons, so there is still a chance Mason can be a fantasy starter at some point this season.
However, it will be harder with a healthy Jones, whom the Vikings trusted late last season, compared to a mid-round rookie or some other free agent."
After reportedly being informed he'd be released or traded, Jones agreed to restructure his contract and stay with the Vikings. So Mason is in line to share the backfield work, perhaps equally or on the wrong side of a timeshare, again next season.
Jahnke's snap share data over the final four weeks of last year's regular season fails to account for an injury that sidelined Mason after four snaps in Week 16, and kept him out of the following game.
But for a stretch of weeks before that, Week 10-15, Jones had 66 carries to Mason's 45 despite averaging over a yard per carry less.
Mason's shortcomings as a pass blocker were a significant factor in Jones playing over 100 snaps more over that stretch, but Jones' pass blocking grade (35.6) was not much better than Mason's (25.1).
Mason's only foreseeable path to fantasy relevance next season, which tilts toward likely in an age-32 campaign, is Jones missing time. When it happened last season (four games from Week 3 to Week 7 with a bye week in there), Mason was a top-20 fantasy running back.
With Jones back in the mix, completely out of nowhere at the time it was announced, Mason is the clearest, biggest, and really the only fantasy loser for the Vikings from the first wave of free agency.