Are they working on an extension?
The “legal tampering” period of NFL free agency gets underway three weeks from Monday, and the Minnesota Vikings have bought themselves a bit of time when it comes to making a decision at running back before the festivities get underway.
Field Yates of ESPN is reporting that the Vikings and running back Aaron Jones have agreed to push back the void date on Jones’ contract until the day before free agency starts.
Jones’ contract was originally set to void on Monday, along with several other contracts. Had the contract voided, the Vikings would automatically incur a $3.2 million dead cap hit on their 2025 salary cap. By agreeing to push the void date back, the teams can continue working on an extension that would mitigate that until the last minute before free agency starts.
Despite dealing with injuries for a decent chunk of the season, Jones appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings in 2024. He set career highs in both carries (255) and rushing yards (1,138) while finding the end zone five times. He also added 51 receptions for 408 yards and two more scores.
Jones turned 30 back in December, which is generally the age where running backs start to slow down a bit. The Vikings will almost certainly be looking to add to their running back room in either free agency or the NFL Draft, but there’s still a chance that Jones could continue being productive as part of a committee situation in the backfield if he were to settle on a reasonable contract.
The Vikings have three other contracts that are set to void on Monday: quarterback Sam Darnold and cornerbacks Byron Murphy Jr. and Stephon Gilmore. I would expect that they would try to do something similar with Murphy, at the very least, as they attempt to work something out before he hits the open market. Whether they’d do that with Darnold or Gilmore remains to be seen, as Darnold seems unlikely to be back and Gilmore is flirting with the idea of retirement.
