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Fans of the Minnesota Vikings may wonder where Sam Darnold will land, and they’re hoping Harrison Smith has another year left in the NFL. But Aaron Jones is in the free-agent mix, and we’re ranking the three best landing spots for the running back in the 2025 NFL offseason.
Jones is coming off a productive season where he rushed for 1,138 yards and totaled 408 through the air. He’s 30 years old, and he has 1,755 “touch miles” on his body. So how much he has left remains a big question.
It’s not clear whether the Vikings will shell out free-agent dollars to keep Jones, so that opens the door for …
The easy reason why the Steelers could have an interest is pending free agency for Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. That’s the entire backfield. And the Steelers seem like a team that wants to compete deep into the playoffs in 2025.
Pro Football Focus tagged the Steelers as the ideal landing spot for Jones in terms of being a major part of the offense.
“If (the Steelers are) looking to compete again in 2025, giving the roster one more go under Mike Tomlin, then a reliable every-down back like Jones makes the most sense,” Jonathon Macri wrote.
Perhaps Jones future with the Vikings walked onto thin ice after a pitch-play fumble midway through the 2024 season, according to comments by head coach Kevin O’Connell to fox9.com.
“This is the National Football League, we’ve got to execute tossing the football,” O’Connell said. “Whosever fault it was, whoever takes the ultimate minus on the sheet, it’s catastrophic. We’ve had two of them happen early on in games and it can’t happen. If we’re not going to be able to toss the football, we’ve got much bigger issues to work through. It’s unacceptable.”
However, Jones said O’Connell approached him in a fair manner about the play, according to espn.com.
“He just wanted to know what happened,” Jones said. “He didn’t raise his voice. (And) he didn’t cuss. He didn’t make you tuck your tail. We explained it, and he said to us, ‘It’s OK, guys. We’re good. You’re both pros. I know you’ll get it fixed, so let’s let it go.’ ”
It makes sense the Vikings wouldn’t want to blow up a 14-3 team, even though the final two games turned into huge disappointments.
The Vikings are projected to have the seventh-most cap space, according to spotrac.com. This means they can likely afford to keep Jones.
One good thing about Jones is his team-guy attitude. He stepped up and supported Darnold during the season, according to the Up & Adams Show via heavy.com.
“One-hundred-ten percent (confident in Darnold),” Jones said in November. “We ride with Sam. He’s what’s gotten us here so far, and we’re going to continue to stick by his side. We know he’s a great quarterback. He could touch...
