In his first year with the Minnesota Vikings, veteran running back Aaron Jones put together one of the best single-season performances in his NFL career.
In 17 games with the Vikings in 2024, Jones rushed for a career-high 1,138 yards and five touchdowns while also catching 51 passes for 408 yards and another two scores. His 1,546 total yards from scrimmage during the 2024 campaign is the second most he's accumulated in a single season in his pro career.
Unfortunately, Jones is currently scheduled to become a free agent when the new league year begins in March, and there's a decent chance that he won't re-sign with Minnesota. Both sides seem like they would like to work out a new deal to keep the running back in a Vikings uniform, but that will all depend on what it will cost to bring him back.
New lucrative, multi-year contract for Aaron Jones suggest as something that makes sense for the Minnesota Vikings
Currently, Spotrac.com has Jones's projected market value at $5.6 million per year, which makes a recent suggestion from Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox pretty odd.
Knox recently picked Minnesota as the ideal landing spot for Jones in free agency this offseason, which is fine. However, he also suggested that signing the former Green Bay Packers running back to a "three-year, $21 million deal would make plenty of sense" for the Vikings.
Yes, Jones had a very productive season in his first year with Minnesota, and it seems safe to assume that the team would like to bring him back for the 2025 season. However, it is highly unlikely that the Vikings would be willing to sign him to a three-year, $21 million deal as Knox suggested.
Not only is Jones 30-years-old and heading into the part of his career where the bodies of running backs typically begin to crumble, but the class of running back prospects available in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft is also believed to be a deep one.
Ideally, Minnesota would likely prefer to bring back Jones on another one-year contract and then use a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a running back in this year's NFL Draft.
Of course, Jones would definitely love to land that three-year, $21 million deal that Knox suggested, but that just doesn't seem like something the Vikings would be willing to agree to.