Aaron Jones Tied to Vikings’ Heated Rival, Potential $21 Million Deal

• The Minnesota Vikings have a value judgement to make on running back Aaron Jones in the coming months.

Jones is a dual-threat playmaker who excelled on the ground and through the air for Minnesota

last season on the team’s way to a 14-3 record. However, he was playing on just a one-year deal worth $7 million and is now on the wrong side of 30 years old.

This offseason is probably Jones’ best chance at one more significant multiyear payday given the current market for backs around the NFL, so testing the free agent waters makes complete sense for him. The Vikings will have to decide at what price point it makes sense to compete for Jones’s services, and at what figure they must look toward a different solution.

Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report on Monday, January 27, projected a three-year contract for Jones at a value of $21 million total. That is the type of contract Minnesota would likely front load to make moving on from Jones in 2026 easier and render such a move more or less a financial afterthought in 2027, when Jones will be 33 and playing his 11th professional campaign.

However, the Chicago Bears have the money to pay Jones in similar fashion should they so choose.

“New Bears head coach Ben Johnson knows exactly what Jones can offer after repeatedly facing him as the Detroit Lions‘ offensive coordinator,” Knox wrote. “Johnson could also be interested in pairing D’Andre Swift with a back like Jones to form a talented duo like the one he had with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery in Detroit

.”.”