Coming over from the Green Bay Packers, new Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones’s fantasy football outlook looks fairly promising as the lead back on an offense led by quarterback Sam Darnold.
There are a number of fantasy team name ideas you could use with Jones’s name, but to be fair, this applies to all players with the last name Jones.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Keeping Up With the JonesÂ
- Jonesing for WinsÂ
- Jonesing for A Title
Will Jones bounce back after an injury-riddled 2023 and repeat his 2022 success?
Below, I’ll examine his 2024 fantasy value and determine if he’s worth a draft pick at his current ADP.
Aaron Jones’ Fantasy Profile for the 2024 NFL Season
One of the most notable fantasy football strategies is ZeroRB, which means waiting on a running back and taking them later, typically after the seventh round.
For someone like Jones, he wouldn’t quite qualify as the RB18 and No. 56 overall.
In 2023, he was the RB41 after appearing in just 11 games.
According to TruMedia, Jones had 142 carries for 656 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 4.6 yards per carry and had 34 first downs. He had 79 carries for 418 yards and two touchdowns on first down. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry. However, he dropped to 3.9 yards per carry on second down on 51 carries. He also caught 30 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.
In 2022, he was quite productive. In 17 games, he had 213 carries for 1,121 yards and two touchdowns and caught 59 passes for 395 yards and five touchdowns.
Weirdly enough, Jones has had a tough time finding the end zone over the past three seasons, especially on the ground. He’s scored just eight rushing touchdowns over the past three seasons. He’s caught 12 touchdowns over that same period.
Coming to the Vikings, he’ll lead a depth chart with Ty Chandler, Kene Nwangwu, DeWayne McBride, and more.
MORE: 2024 Consensus Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
He’ll be on a roster now with a lower caliber of quarterback play. In 2023, he was injured, but quarterback Jordan Love was fantastic, with more than 30 touchdown passes. Before that, he played his entire career with Aaron Rodgers under center. However, he scored 25 rushing touchdowns in 2019 and 2020.
With Darnold under center, I certainly expect the Vikings to look to the ground game more than the 23.1 rush attempts per game they had in 2023.
The Vikings have a Week 6 bye week.
Is Aaron Jones a Good Fantasy Pick?
The Vikings averaged 37.1 pass attempts per game last season (sixth). Kirk Cousins played eight games before tearing his Achilles, and from there, Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall combined for well over 300 attempts. Between all of these players, the Vikings had 631 attempts.
Over his career, Darnold has never had more than 441 attempts in a single season.
I point this out because I expect this offense to balance out much more.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is a former quarterback, but I believe a lot of the emphasis on the passing game came from how putrid the ground game was. The Vikings had 393 carries for 1,553 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging just four yards per carry.
The key here is if Jones can stay healthy. He dealt with hamstring injuries and an MCL sprain last season.
Pending health, Jones can certainly exceed his RB18 price tag.
This comes down to your risk tolerance.
Remember, Jones has only played one full season—2022—and has played in 73 out of 84 games since 2019.
The upside is certainly there.