Vikings to re-sign running back Aaron Jones on a two-year deal

Running back Aaron Jones has said he would like to end his NFL career in Minnesota, and the Vikings on Sunday agreed to extend their relationship for another two seasons.

Jones, a 30-year-old former Green Bay Packers starter, agreed to a two-year extension worth up to $20 million, a league source confirmed to the Star Tribune. Jones gets $11.5 million guaranteed at signing, including an $8 million signing bonus.

The deal prevents the pending free agent from testing the open market, as players on expiring contracts can begin negotiating with other teams Monday. New deals can be signed Wednesday, when free agency officially opens.

“I hope to be here to the end of my career, honestly,” Jones said Jan. 1. “This is an excellent place, an excellent upstairs, training room, all across the board. This is an excellent place. ... If I can finish my career here, this is where I’d like to finish.”

Jones received an $8 million signing bonus as part of his new deal, as well as a fully guaranteed $1.5 million base salary for 2025. He can make up to $350,000 for the season in per-game roster bonuses and has a $150,000 roster bonus. With those figures combined with $800,000 of dead money from Jones' old deal, his contract will have a salary cap figure of $4.8 million for 2025.

His 2026 deal includes a $9 million base salary that has $2 million fully guaranteed immediately and another $4 million guaranteed for injury at the time of the deal. If Jones is on the Vikings roster the third day of the 2026 league year, another $2 million of his 2026 base will become fully guaranteed. He has a $150,000 workout bonus in 2026 and can earn up to $850,000 in per-game roster bonuses that year.

Jones' initial deal included void years through 2028; the Vikings would absorb $5.6 million of dead money in 2027 if Jones leaves after the 2026 season.

After the Packers released Jones in a cost-cutting move following seven seasons in Green Bay, he came to his old division rival and immediately became a focal point of the Vikings offense. Jones had career highs in carries (255) and rushing yards (1,138) and ranked third on the team with 51 catches.

His 1,546 yards from scrimmage were nearly a career high, and placed him seventh among all NFL running backs last season. His new $10 million average annual value ranks sixth at his position.

Jones played in all 17 regular-season games, but injuries mounted. So his return might not prevent the Vikings from adding another runner to complement him. Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah joined a chorus of evaluators who lauded this year’s NFL draft class of running backs. Last season, coach Kevin O’Connell cycled through options behind Jones, starting off with Ty Chandler before turning to Cam Akers.

Akers, who turns 26 in June, will become a free agent Wednesday. He finished second on the team with 297 rushing yards, including a team-leading 65 yards in the season-finale loss at Detroit, after he was reacquired via trade in October from Houston.

Running back likely won’t be the only position that the Vikings address to improve their running game, which has produced only 16 touchdowns over the past two seasons, ranking 31st in the NFL.

The offensive line, specifically the interior, is also expected to get revamped after the Vikings were outmatched in season-ending losses to the Lions and the Los Angeles Rams. Guard Dalton Risner, who started 19 games over the past two years, is a pending free agent after taking over for guard Ed Ingram, who was benched in the middle of last season.

“If you have the front to be able to block for them,” Adofo-Mensah said Feb. 25 at the NFL combine, “they can change games and they can really impact not just your offense but your defense, control the clock and different things like that.”

Perhaps the Vikings can offer Jones even better surroundings in 2025, starting with new offensive linemen via free agency this week.

“We improved a little bit in regards to, like, short yardage,” O’Connell said Feb. 25, “but red-zone running, it’s about moving people, it’s about blocking people. It’s about how many blades of grass can you have before contact, limiting the negatives so that you can stack some more run opportunities on top of each other before you finally hit your head on the goal post.”

Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.