Inside The Vikings

Aaron Jones is on pace for a Christian McCaffrey-like season with Vikings

Jones is off to a very strong start for the Vikings in 2024.
Will Ragatz|
Sep 29, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones (33) rushes with the football as Green Bay Packers safety Javon Bullard (20) defends during the third quarter at Lambeau Field.
Sep 29, 2024; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones (33) rushes with the football as Green Bay Packers safety Javon Bullard (20) defends during the third quarter at Lambeau Field. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Four games into the 2024 season, Aaron Jones has been everything the Vikings thought he could be in their offense when they signed him to a one-year deal in the spring. He's gone over 100 yards from scrimmage in three of four games, averaging 143.5 over the last two. If Jones stays healthy, he's on pace to put up yardage numbers not far off from what Christian McCaffrey did with the 49ers last season.

With 464 total yards heading into Week 5, Jones is on pace for 1,972 over 17 games. Last season, McCaffrey led the league in yards from scrimmage with 2,023. Exactly one player has gotten to the 2K mark in each of the last five years.

Jones is currently sixth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, trailing Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Jordan Mason, and Nico Collins. That's a big group of players on pace for massive seasons, although Mason would lose his workhorse role with the 49ers if McCaffrey ever gets healthy. Collins looks poised to make a potential push for the first 2,000-yard receiving season in league history.

The only player in Vikings history to ever reach 2,000 yards from scrimmage is Adrian Peterson, who ran for 2K alone in his 2012 MVP season. Second on that list is Dalvin Cook with 1,918 in 2020. Cook had 464 yards through the first four games, exactly the same as Jones' current total.

The key for the 29-year-old Jones will be staying healthy. He's averaged 20 touches per game this season after having 24 and 26 the last two weeks. Jones is putting up 5.0 yards per carry on the ground to match his career mark, and his 8.9 yards per catch is his highest average since 2019. He is thriving in the Vikings' offense and figures to start scoring more touchdowns soon after coming close to the end zone numerous times at Lambeau Field this past weekend.

If Jones plays in all 17 games this year, it's hard to imagine him not at least setting a new career-high in yards from scrimmage by besting his 1,558-yard total from 2019.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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