Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Gives Notable Injury Update on Aaron Jones

Getty Aaron Jones of Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings hit their bye week as one of two teams with an unblemished record at 5-0. They join the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs. But they exited Week 5 worse for the wear with Starting tailback Aaron Jones suffering a hip injury in the first half of the eventual win over the New York Jets.

He did not return to the game.  Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell provided more clarity following Jones’ planned MRI.

“Aaron Jones continues to be evaluated. But all the early information that we’ve got so far, it looks like we’ve avoided a long-term injury,” O’Connell told reporters on October 8. “I would classify him as, really, week-to-week at this point. He’ll get treatment throughout this week and I’ll give you guys an update where he’s at next week as we kind of, hopefully, work him back into getting involved in practice and leading into whether we’ll have him versus the Lions.”

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Jones finished the win over New York with 29 yards on seven carries. He has 350 yards and 1 touchdown on 71 carries through four-plus games in 2024. He is on pace to finish the season with his most rushing yards per game since his Pro Bowl campaign in 2020.

Aaron Jones a Significant Part of Vikings’ Offense

If Jones can return after the bye week without missing time, he will remain on track to finish the season with a career-high 1,190 rushing yards.

He has also caught 17 passes for 167 yards and 1 touchdown.

Jones has accounted for 31.9% of the Vikings’ 1,616 total offensive yardage with 517 yards from scrimmage in 2024. He ranks fifth among all skill players, per Fox Sports. Losing him for an extended period would be a significant blow for the Vikings.

Jones’ injury elevated backup Ty Chandler to RB1 versus the Jets. He finished the contest with 30 yards on 14 carries. He also fumbled on a play that was charged to quarterback Sam Darnold.

Despite that gaffe, O’Connell expressed confidence in Chandler.

Kevin O’Connell Express ‘Faith’ in Ty Chandler Amid Vikings Injury Questions

“It was a shame a couple of his real ops – one of which went 30-plus yards – we have a procedural penalty that cannot happen,” O’Connell said. “And then had another penalty on another nice gain there in the second half, where I think they got Ed [Ingram] for a penalty that was really – it could have gone either way kind of with how the play kind of materialized and everything. So, tough.

“It was against one of the top defenses in the NFL. I thought there were some other runs where I think Ty can get into a flow into a groove, maybe. Maybe we find a few more yards on them. But that’s all part of the process.

Chandler was a fifth-round pick by the Vikings in the 2022 draft. He rushed for 461 yards and 3 touchdowns on 102 totes in 2023.

That has helped build O’Connel’s confidence in him going forward.

“I got a lot of confidence in Ty, really going back to last year when he really emerged for us like he did the second half of last season,” O’Connell said. “Clearly, we can’t have the ball end up on the ground, which happened one of our wide zone kind of toss plays, which was a huge play in the game at that point in time. Defense was able to go out and get the ball back for us. But would love to just get the simple execution.”