Short on draft picks this year and needing to do something to add to their running back depth chart, the Minnesota Vikings acquired Jordan Mason from the San Francisco 49ers as the first week of free agency wound down. Mason, originally a restricted free agent tendered by the 49ers, then signed a two-year deal with the Vikings.
As a runner, Mason's short-yardage prowess is the perfect complement to Aaron Jones. Ideally, with a better option behind him, the Vikings won't need the 30-year-old Jones to come close to last year's career-high of 306 touches.
Jones and Mason are both under contract through 2026, and if we're being honest, the cap savings/dead money implications to move on from either one more or less means they'll both be in Purple for the second year of their deals.
That being said, we have seen teams take on far more dead money than the numbers Jones and/or Mason would leave behind next year if the Vikings moved on ($5.2 million for Mason and $6.8 million for Jones, according to Over The Cap, with a pre-June 1 cut).
Trade idea for Minnesota Vikings trade idea might not be as outlandish as it seems
Based on there being a new regime and the fact that the new regime has just two players at his position, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne continues to linger as a trade candidate. The list of teams who could be interested in him has been diminished by what was done in the draft, so a fresh list of possible trade suitors requires some outside-the-box thinking.
Beyond his situation in Jacksonville, Etienne is fortified as a trade candidate by entering the final year of his contract.
On that note, Justin Melo of The Draft Network has named three potential landing spots for Etienne: the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Vikings.
"The Minnesota Vikings fielded a below-average rushing attack last season. They finished 20th in that department, averaging 109.1 ground yards per game. As they transition from veteran Sam Darnold to the inexperienced J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, head coach Kevin O'Connell will want his run game to take some pressure off what's essentially a rookie QB.
An aging Aaron Jones remains in the lead back role. Former San Francisco 49ers ball-carrier Jordan Mason joined via trade and will search for more opportunities. The Vikings didn't draft a running back. There's room for competition here, and Etienne would add a pass-catching layer to the offense that's currently lacking from the backfield."
Jones was productive as a pass catcher last season, with 51 receptions for 408 yards (8.0 yards per catch) and two touchdowns. But some other metrics seem ripe for regression there. He led all running backs in red zone targets last season (17), and his "Receiving Points Earned" last season, which Sports Information Solutions essentially calculates as Expected Points Added (EPA), was a career-best (eight).
Prior to last season, Etienne had two seasons where he averaged more yards per catch than Jones did last year. His PFF receiving grade (70.7) was also a notch better than Jones' (70.6) last year.
At first glance, it's easy to shrug off the Vikings as any kind of potential suitor for Etienne. He's also surely going to prefer to be sent somewhere where he'll see a lot of work in a contract year, and barring injury to Jones or Mason, that's not going to happen in Minnesota.
As a versatile weapon though, Etienne could find his way to a niche in the Vikings' offense. And a trade for him, at the right price of course, could be done with an eye on him being brought back in a bigger role for 2026.
It's unlikely Etienne is anywhere on the Vikings' radar right now, and if things turn that direction, they could just wait for him to be a free agent next March. But the overall idea of making a trade for him is not so outlandish that it can be completely ruled out.
