Vikings

Minnesota’s “Prehab” With Worked Aaron Jones

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After seeing Aaron Jones in training camp, Garrett Bradbury was at a loss for words.

“Dude,” he told the Star Tribune’s Mark Craig. “I can’t believe the Packers got rid of that guy.”

The Green Bay Packers were also surprised.

“It kind of caught me off guard, to be honest,” Matt LaFleur told the Wisconsin State Journal at the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in April. “There were some other things in play with Aaron Jones, and I didn’t quite know how everything was going to go. It just happened really fast on that Monday.”

By “other things,” he means health and money.

Green Bay took Jones out of the University of Texas-El Paso in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. Jones played 12 games in his first two seasons and rushed for 448 and 728 yards, respectively. He broke out with 1,084 yards in 2019 and led the league with 16 touchdowns. Jones rushed for over 1,000 yards the next season and made his first Pro Bowl.

The Packers signed Jones to a four-year, $48 million extension after his Pro Bowl season in 2020. However, he missed two games in 2020 and 2021 and only rushed for 799 yards in 2021. He was fully healthy in 2022 and ran for 1,121 yards, but Jones’ 2023 season gave Green Bay pause.

Jones turned 29 that year, and running backs’ production typically declines at that age. Furthermore, Jones would cost the Packers $17 million against the cap, and he missed six games and only ran for 656 yards in 2023. Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst asked Jones to take a pay cut. Jones declined and elected to enter free agency.

Minnesota pounced on an opportunity and signed Jones to a one-year, $7 million deal. Jones likely signed with the Vikings to stick it to Green Bay’s management. However, he believed Kevin O’Connell that the team would be better than people expected, and Minnesota’s medical staff was also a big selling point.

When the Vikings hired O’Connell in 2022, he brought Tyler Williams and his medical team over from the Los Angeles Rams. In September, Jones raved about Minnesota’s proactive approach. Williams and his staff have an individualized pre-practice routine, which Jones called “prehab,” for injury prevention.

Jones, 30, said they built off what he did last summer to prepare for the season.

“They were like, ‘We were already thinking about that. We’ve already got a card written up. You just tell us the body part, and we’ve got it,’” Jones said. “I picked my hammies, [knees, and ankles]. Let’s warm it all up.”

Minnesota’s methods worked. Jones suffered a rib injury against the Jacksonville Jaguars in November. Still, he played 17 games and ran for a career-high 1,138 yards.

“I feel like, every year, I’m getting better and better,” Jones said during training camp. “Last year, I felt like I was just about to start entering my prime.”

Jones had run for 584 yards in his last five games with Green Bay before signing with the Vikings. He felt those games indicated where he was as a running back.

“Those last five kind of showed the game’s slowing down a little more for me,” Jones said. “I can see different things, and I’m able to hit different holes or set dudes up the way I want to, versus maybe before I hadn’t been able to because the game was still a little fast.”

The NFL is a ruthless business with a tight salary cap. However, the Vikings have over $60 million in cap space and finished in the middle of the league with 109.1 yards per game. With an improved rushing attack, they can better set up play-action, manage the clock, and protect leads.

Jones alone won’t improve Minnesota’s running game. Still, he’s a reliable veteran they can build around, regardless of whether they continue to spell him with Cam Akers or add a running back in the draft. Although he played his first seven seasons in Green Bay and still loves the fans there, Jones wants to finish his career with the Vikings.

“I hope to be here,” Jones said with glassy eyes after the Rams ended their season in Glendale, Ariz. “I hope to be here to the end of my career, honestly. This is an excellent place. An excellent upstairs, training room, all across the board.”

Who’s to blame him? Jones entered the season feeling good, and the Vikings kept him healthy all year. He set a career high in rushing yards and feels like he’s still in his prime. Not every 30-year-old running back can say that.

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Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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