Aaron Jones, Jonathan Greenard, Jordan Addison and Cam Bynum spoke with reporters after mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024, at TCO Performance Center. The Vikings signed Jones during the 2024 free agency period, a replacement for Alexander Mattison, who joined the Las Vegas Raiders roster.
The Minnesota Vikings might need running back Aaron Jones to cage the Detroit Lions this weekend.
The veteran tailback has put his thumbprint on the team’s offense through six weeks, but after a hip-hamstring injury 11 days ago in London, his Sunday status is up in the air.
Thankfully for onlookers’ sake, Jones nominated Thursday as a pivotal day for his Week 7 trajectory. He’ll evidently test the injury at practice in Eagan and gauge his progress.
Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling tweeted Wednesday, “Aaron Jones said he’ll practice on Thursday and see how he’s feeling before the Vikings make a determination on whether he’ll play Sunday. He said he first felt the injury during pregame stretches in London, and thought he’d be OK, but felt it again during the game. He spent most of his bye week in Minnesota, doing everything from acupuncture to deep tissue massage, hyperbaric chambers and laser treatment.”
Goessling added, “The Vikings are calling it a hamstring, not a hip, injury for Aaron Jones. It was first described as a hip injury when he left the game in London. It’s listed as a hamstring, in the first official injury report since the Jets game.”
Jones told reporters, “I wouldn’t trade it. This is my job, and this is where I asked to be. So you’ve got to get in there and get back.”
Jones is on pace for 1,758 yards from scrimmage and 6 touchdowns in 2024, a massive upgrade to last year’s RB1, Alexander Mattison. In fact, without Jones in London for a couple of quarters, the Vikings’ offense fell off a cliff and reverted to clumsy 3-and-Outs.
Meanwhile, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah conducted a low-risk trade for running back Cam Akers on Tuesday evening, sending a conditional 6th-Rounder to the Houston Texans for Akers and a conditional 7th-Round pick. If Jones cannot play Sunday or thereafter, Minnesota will turn to running backs Ty Chandler, Cam Akers, and Myles Gaskin.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell sounded reasonably optimistic about Jones’ chances of playing on Sunday. “Aaron is going to progress throughout the week and hopefully has a chance to go on Sunday,” O’Connell told reporters.
O’Connell also opined on would-be Jones alternatives: “Ty Chandler and Myles Gaskin and Cam will work behind him. I like where Ty’s at. Obviously, Aaron Jones has been a huge impact to our team, so getting to solidify that depth at that position, with an urgency to run the football throughout the rest of the season, we wanted to make sure we could do that now when an opportunity became available.”
On the whole, Thursday should be the almighty clue about Jones’ Week 7 fate. The team will release an official final injury report on Friday.
The Vikings are expected to beat the Lions by two or three points, per sportsbooks.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.