One NFL FA Runner Gets Scooped Up Before Vikings Got a Chance
For the most part, the NFL’s free agency period will get pretty wild starting on Monday, March 9th. That’s the day when teams are allowed to begin chatting with other teams’ players, arriving at verbal commitments along the way.
Nothing at the present moment, though, stops teams from negotiating with the pending FA talent who are already under contract. Consider the word that emerged from Dianna Russini of The Athletic: “The Cowboys have agreed to a three-year, $24 million deal with Javonte Williams, per source, keeping the pending free agent off the market.”
Upcoming FA Re-Signs in Dallas, Vikings Miss on RB
At no point has the ground game been good enough under Kevin O’Connell.
Sure, there are offseason promises, proving that Minnesota is willing to talk the talk. When it comes to walking the walk? Eh, that has been tougher to sustain.
Goodness, the team has even put meaty money into the issue. Signing RG1 Will Fries was about getting nastier in the trenches. So was trading for and then extending Jordan Mason, a burly runner who bowls over defenders. Continuing to employ Josh Oliver and C.J. Ham (now retired) should have led to handing the ball off.
By the end of the 2025 regular season, the 9-8 Vikings had settled in at 23rd in the NFL with 1,841 rushing yards. The 4.5 yards-per-carry average was actually in a tie for 10th in the NFL, so Minnesota was pretty efficient. Hindering the ground game was the reality of just 410 carries all year, coming in at 27th in the NFL.
Put simply, the Vikings needed far more from the ground game but just didn’t hand the ball off very much. Most befuddling was that the young passer was either hurt or struggling for most of the year, further enhancing the need for a potent rushing attack.
Would signing Javonte Williams have made a difference for 2026 and beyond?
The 25-year-old running back is coming off his fifth NFL season. Running for the Cowboys was a nice fit, leading to him turning his 252 carries into 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns. Very healthy all around. Note that he’s 5’10” and 220 pounds, so Williams has a sturdy build.
Consider how Alec Lewis, Vikings beat writer for The Athletic, discussed the matter, “This is a pretty informative deal here for an intriguing FA running back market. Javonte is really good. Was going to be one of the best of the available bunch. Still multiple interesting names (Travis Etienne, Breece Hall, Rico Dowdle, etc).”
Lewis rightly notes a pair of things: there are several good players remaining while noting that Williams is himself a very good player. Fair enough.
What’s perhaps of more interest is the in-house talent. More specifically, does Aaron Jones get shown the door?
The veteran is coming off an inefficient season where he missed quite a bit of time due to injury. At his best, Jones is a fantastic leader who exemplifies what a Vikings player should be all about: versatile, tough, competitive, and so on.
His debut season in Minnesota was great, leading to a two-year extension for $20 million. The encore season wasn’t nearly so promising. Jones had just 132 carries, 548 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Worse, he’s 31 and has a history of spending too much time in the infirmary. Williams, 25, is coming off a better season and is making an average of $8 million per season instead of the $10 million that Jones demands.
Cutting Jones would mean recouping $7,750,000, per OTC. Anything other than a cut would qualify as a surprise given the financial crunch in Minnesota.
No matter what takes place in the offseason, one thing that’s clear is that improving the ground game needs to be a priority. Minnesota’s entire team is better when the offense has some balance.
Mason appears ready to move into 2026 as a top option, but look for RB help from both of free agency alongside the draft.
You must be logged in to post a comment.