Tyler Forness talks about the dynamics of the Minnesota Vikings' running back room, specifically hitting on the trade for Jordan Mason that was made earlier in the offseason. Here, he talks about something that Kevin O'Connell said earlier this week that sheds some light on a trade that made many scratch their heads.
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00:00Kevin O'Connell at the NFL owners meetings revealed something very interesting about
00:05why they made a trade for Jordan Mason and it has everything to do with Aaron Jones.
00:11Let me explain.
00:16Minnesota Vikings at the running back position were such an interesting enigma going into
00:19the offseason.
00:20Aaron Jones was the guy that they wanted to retain, but how much do you want to give a
00:24guy who's now in his 30s and has been injury prone throughout his career?
00:28We know the Minnesota Vikings have really thrived by signing players who have been injured
00:33and keeping them healthy with Jones playing all 17 games, even though he was dinged up
00:37a decent part of the year.
00:39Well, can you trust that guy to stay healthy again?
00:42No, you probably can't, but what they found is that if you can maximize Aaron Jones in
00:47a certain way by giving him a one B option and having a true timeshare, Kevin O'Connell
00:53is at the NFL owners meetings and talked about it.
00:57His first quote talking about Aaron Jones, yeah, I think the big thing we learned about
01:01Aaron Jones last year is he can be in every down back.
01:03He was a feature part of our offense, but what we wanted to make sure that we were doing
01:07is we were using him in a way that allowed him to be his most impactful self, which is
01:11early down run pass game.
01:13He's got third down value.
01:14I don't think people give him enough credit for his pass protection, either when we're
01:17dropping back or third downs, but when he has historically had that one a one B backfield
01:22structure, he could be a total game changer every time he touches the ball.
01:26So it was always about bringing Aaron back huge leadership role on our team and quote.
01:31Now that's a big part of it.
01:33Having that second guy to be able to balance him out and to be able to keep him fresh and
01:37healthy has been a really big factor in the success of Aaron Jones over the course of
01:42the year.
01:43And if you have that guy, it can be a real elevating factor.
01:48First it was Jamal Williams with the Packers, then AJ Dillon, and they did a good job of
01:52spelling Jones enough to keep him fresh and healthy.
01:56They decided to do that by trading for Jordan Mason.
01:58And it was interesting because there's a deep running back class in the NFL draft.
02:02Why would you make a trade while the trade was basically free?
02:04They moved down 27 picks late on day three from one 60 to one 87.
02:09They gave up a sixth round pick to get Jordan Mason, who was arguably already a top 20 running
02:13back in the NFL.
02:14Plus, he's a perfect compliment to what Aaron Jones brings.
02:17This is what O'Connell had to say right after that Aaron Jones quote about Jordan Mason.
02:23Jordan Mason was a guy we played against last year, which was in week two.
02:26Really felt him in a zone run scheme with kind of gap compliments like the Niners do.
02:32We really felt where what we were looking for was right before our very eyes.
02:36A heavy runner slash runner, tough to tackle, gets in space and has burst and explosion
02:41to finish runs.
02:42And also a guy that probably doesn't get enough credit in his pass protection and just every
02:46down versatility.
02:47So we really weren't aren't pigeonholed into one particular scheme or you know in the run
02:51pass phase.
02:52But I do think Jordan's going to bring something to the table in those short yardage situations.
02:56Those goal line situations goal to go where we've really left a lot to be desired as a
03:01football team.
03:02And that starts with me to make sure we improve in that area because we certainly have improved
03:06personnel wise.
03:07I think Kweisi would have a better feel for the totality of it, meaning the trade.
03:11But I do remember it's not a quick process.
03:13It was something that we were trying to figure out what made sense for both sides and quote.
03:18And I think that's a common theme with the Minnesota Vikings.
03:20They sign players that they played against.
03:22They played against Javon Hargrave in week two, played against Jordan Mason in week two.
03:26They played against Ryan Kelly when they face the Indianapolis Colts in week nine.
03:31This team has found players that they played against, brought them in and had a lot of
03:36success.
03:38Jordan Mason's the next one.
03:39He's going to be a perfect, perfect compliment to what Aaron Jones brings.
03:44The best part is it's a really inexpensive deal.
03:48I'm Tyler Fornas with A to Z Sports.
03:50It's called Vikings.