Vikings running backs face uncertainty as the team aims to improve its run game

Vikings running back Aaron Jones had a career-best 1,138 rushing yards, but struggled with a minor quad injury in the final weeks of the season. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

An expletive was the only word Vikings running back Aaron Jones could think of to aptly describe how the end of this season felt following the wild-card round loss to the Rams.

“It’s hard to explain,” the veteran running back continued. “One of the worst feelings in the world.”

For Jones, but also the Vikings running back room as a whole, the offseason holds uncertainty.

In the 24 hours after the Vikings' season-ending loss on Jan. 13, Jones and Akers each said they’d like to be back with Minnesota next season.

“I’ve said before, this is where I want to finish my career,” Jones said in the locker room postgame. “Hopefully it plays out that way. This is a great organization. I’d love to be a Viking for a second year, and for life.”

Akers added that, though he’s had good relationships with other peers throughout the league, he feels his relationship with Jones is a special one.

“He embraced me right away,” Akers said the next day during locker cleanout. “I let him know from the jump, ‘Any time you need me to come in and relieve you, I got you. I’m just here to relieve you.’ Learned from him all season. I was able to talk to him, pick his brain. … I love playing with him.”

Cam Akers played 12 games with the Vikings this season after being traded from the Texans. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Vikings have some revamping to do in their run game after a season where they struggled to create consistency in their rushing attack.

They finished in the bottom half of the league in total rushing yards (1,855), yards per attempt (4.1) and yards per game (109.1) during the regular season. Most glaring was their nine rushing touchdowns, third-fewest in the league; only the Browns and Jets (8) and Cowboys (6) scored fewer.

And while those issues were often covered up by a successful passing attack, the final two games of the season showed how critical it is to have a run game that can relieve pressure from the quarterback and force defenses to diversify.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said in his end-of-season news conference last Thursday he felt the team improved on the ground throughout the season while acknowledging the need for continued work this offseason.

“There’s always going to be room to grow as we continue to build the 2025 version of Minnesota Vikings, having total alignment between our personnel, the things we do well in the run game, where our strong points are in the run game and then ultimately tying schemes into that,” O’Connell said.

He lauded Jones for his high-level execution, which led to a career-best 1,138 rushing yards. He praised Akers for how he infused his own skill set into what the team was already doing upon his arrival, aiding especially as Jones struggled with a minor quad injury in the final weeks of the season.

O’Connell also said the team still has “a lot of strong feelings toward” Ty Chandler, whom the Vikings drafted in the fifth round in 2022.

Ty Chandler, a fifth-round draft pick in 2022, took a step back in usage this season. (Anthony Souffle/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

There are considerations that give pause with all three: Jones is 30 and unlikely to be a long-term solution. The Vikings chose not to sign Akers, who has had two Achilles injuries, in free agency last year after acquiring him from the Rams during the 2023 season. Chandler’s usage took a step back this season, and he’s entering the final year of his rookie contract.

But continuing growth and stabilizing the run game doesn’t have to come from changes at the running back position.

In a similar vein last week, he said how the offensive line shakes out will be a factor in how the team plays offense all-around with the goal “to make the quarterback’s job easier, make it so that we can live in friendly down and distances as many times as possible … avoiding some of those negatives.”

Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said he agreed with O’Connell’s comments about the offensive line when he spoke last Thursday to close the season, bringing up the run game without prompting as he explained that solutions in football are not always black-and-white.

“If you want to run the football, there’s a lot of ways to do it,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We’ll approach this offseason trying to fix the team with that creativity, that mindset in place.”