Vikings May Already Be Regretting Offseason Handling of Running Back Room

The Minnesota Vikings have been known for a high-octane passing attack under Kevin O’Connell. But when it comes to running the ball, O’Connell has treated the ground game like a side of Brussels sprouts.

The Vikings had their most efficient running game under O’Connell last season at 4.5 yards per carry, but they ranked 27th in the NFL with 410 rushing attempts. That number was boosted after they watered down the offense to help J.J. McCarthy over the final five games of the season and O’Connell has tried to find other ways to give his rushing attack a lift.

The additions of new offensive line coach Keith Carter and new assistant head coach Frank Smith, who served as Mike McDaniel’s offensive coordinator with the Miami Dolphins, should help O’Connell get more out of the running game. But when it comes to the players who will actually be carrying the ball, the Vikings may be wondering if they should have made one more addition heading into next season.

Vikings’ RB room comes with plenty of flaws entering 2026

The Vikings will go into this season with Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones returning. They also added an intriguing prospect in the NFL Draft after taking Demond Claiborne out of Wake Forest in the sixth round. Zavier Scott was also a capable understudy when called upon last season, but it still feels like the Vikings could have used more.

Mason arrived in Minnesota with big expectations after running for a career-high 789 yards and three touchdowns with the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, but his overall numbers didn’t live up to the hype, with 758 yards and six touchdowns on 159 carries. Those numbers came with a 56.0% success rate according to Pro Football Reference, but they also came with limited involvement in the passing game with 14 catches for 51 scoreless yards.

That could be why Mason was on the field for 63.5% of the Vikings’ offensive snaps in the first seven weeks but was only on the field for 29.4% from Weeks 8 through 16. Jones was the main beneficiary of that decline, but he also has his flaws, entering his age-32 season after being limited to 12 games due to hamstring, shoulder, ankle and hip injuries in 2025.

The laundry list of injuries led to the selection of Claiborne in April’s draft. While Jones compared his burst to Detroit Lions star Jahmyr Gibbs during minicamp, he also posted a 29.9 pass-blocking grade on 42 snaps according to Pro Football Focus. Ball security is also an issue with five fumbles on 179 attempts last season, which may have been the reason he fell to the final day of the draft.

Ty Chandler can vouch that it doesn’t matter how fast you are if you can’t block or hold onto the ball in O’Connell’s offense and it gives the Vikings three flawed backs to work with going into next season. This could be why the Vikings were reported to be in on Travis Etienne during the start of free agency and also examined the markets for Kenneth Walker III and Kenneth Gainwell before they signed elsewhere, according to Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller.

Perhaps Mason replicates his performance from last season, Jones stays healthy and Claiborne brings the explosive element to the running game the Vikings have been missing. There’s also a chance it may not matter if O’Connell remains committed to airing it out in short-yardage situations.

But there is something to be said about not grabbing a more qualified runner to man the backfield. Even if the scheme overhaul is a success, it could leave Minnesota wishing they were a little more aggressive to solve the problem.

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