'I'm ready to have the best year of my career' Vikings RB is primed to make major impact
By Tyler Forness,
2024-09-03
When the Minnesota Vikings signed running back Aaron Jones, many believed it was a move rooted in a desire to show up his former team, the Green Bay Packers. Many former Packers have crossed the St. Croix River to join their former team's biggest rival with varying degrees of success .
The most impactful examples are quarterback Brett Favre, safety Darren Sharper and kicker Ryan Longwell, all of which were major factors for the Vikings in the mid-2000s. Vikings running back Aaron Jones hopes to be the next one.
Vikings RB Aaron Jones is primed for a career year
On Labor Day, the Vikings had practice with player availability in the locker room afterward. Jones spoke with reporters and was very excited about the prospects of the 2024 season in purple and gold.
“I’m ready to have the best year of my career,” said Jones.
It shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone that Jones is ready for a big year. Last year with the Packers, Jones missed six games due to injury and the Packers limited him to just 142 carries. What he did was max out with his efficiency. Jones had a career-high 62.0% success rate and was very effective, including in the playoffs.
One of the reasons he believes that success is repeatable is due to a pre-practice routine he started when working out in Florida. When he came to Minnesota, the Vikings had something similar waiting for him.
“They were like, ‘We’ve already got a card written up for you. You just tell us the body part [you want to work on], and we’ve got you.’ I noticed a difference from the first time I did it to times I don’t do it when I go out there. It just takes a little bit longer to try to get warmed up.”
With his injury history, having an advanced routine to limber up is a good thing. In Jones' seven-year career, he has only played in every game twice: 2019 and 2022. His injury history is focused in his legs, with hamstring, knee and ankle injuries having made the biggest impact.
With the nature of the running back position, the shelf life for the position is shrinking. Running backs aren't lasting as long as they used to and with Jones at 29 years old, the clock is metaphorically ticking on his career. Jones was asked about that and how much he would need to be paid to leave the game.
“I was like, ‘Pretty much no amount of money. I feel like I have a lot left in the tank. I feel like I can play eight more years.’ And they’re looking at me like, ‘You’re crazy.’ I feel like as long as my body stays feeling good, I can do it. But you’ve got to be productive with that, as well. As you’re older, I feel like they try to kind of get you out of the door, because you’ve got younger backs coming in who are pretty good, as well.”
The Vikings are going to be focusing on making the run game better, especially after how poor it was last season. It's been something head coach Kevin O'Connell has spoken about multiple times. The good thing for 2024 is Jones happens to be a massive improvement over Alexander Mattison.
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