The Minnesota Vikings sent a CLEAR message when they traded for Jordan Mason

AtoZ Sports

Tyler Forness discusses the idea of the Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl window in the wake of their trade for San Fransisco 49ers RB Jordan Mason.

Transcript

00:00Minnesota Vikings made a shocking trade on Saturday night to acquire a running back.

00:04Why did they do it? And why does it make so much more sense when you dig beneath the surface?

00:13The Minnesota Vikings have done a great job over the course of free agency to try and fortify the

00:17roster to make a real run at the Super Bowl. They believe they have a three-year window

00:21between 2025 and 2027 where they can really maximize that rookie contract of JJ McCarthy.

00:27They invested in the trenches heavily on both the offensive side with Ryan Kelly and Will Fry

00:31and the defensive side of Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. But there's one underlying

00:36set of moves that the Minnesota Vikings have made that's been really intriguing.

00:40That's that running back. Running back is becoming a much more important and pivotal position

00:45in the National Football League. And the days of being super undervalued are gone.

00:50Why? Second and third level defenders are getting smaller and smaller, meaning if you have the

00:55offensive linemen and backs, you can really take advantage of that. That's what the Vikings are

00:59hoping to do. They extended Aaron Jones on a two-year $20 million contract, but then they

01:03traded for Jordan Mason from the San Francisco 49ers. And what's really interesting here is they

01:10not only traded for him, but then they gave him a contract extension two years worth up to $12

01:14million with seven of it guaranteed. Why would they do that? With this running back class,

01:18why would they make that trade? Two things. One, Jordan Mason's really good. And two,

01:24now they have a roster that's so deep that they don't have a serious need across the board.

01:29That's a huge factor here. They don't have a need. They can go into the draft and take whoever

01:35they want. Pretty much the only position that might be a surprise in the first round, quarterback

01:40and offensive tackle. That's it. They could take a tight end. It would be kind of weird,

01:45but they could do it. They could take a wide receiver. They could take an edge. They could

01:48take a defensive tackle, offensive guard. They could take corners, safety, or they could take

01:53running back. But Mason provides a level of stability that the Minnesota Vikings did not

01:57have. And now you don't have to rely on a rookie to be in a much better spot. They don't have to

02:04be that running back two. They can be the running back three and earn the job. And what Mason

02:08provides? A level of oomph that the Vikings just have not had in a long, long time. He is a true

02:17wide zone runner, but he can do a little bit of everything. He's got power. He's got the ability

02:22to slalom. Ever watch those skiers when they're going down the mountains and they kind of go,

02:26they like bend the body at the arc, you get around the gates. Edge rushers kind of do the same thing

02:31when they try to bend the arc around tackles. Mason could do that with excellent body control,

02:355'11", 223. It's really impressive to watch him run. And he runs with great pad level.

02:42He gets skinny. So when he gets the ball carry, he almost like narrows his, uh, aiming target.

02:48So defenders have a harder time getting him down. And when they do,

02:51it's not easy because he's so thick and he's built muscular and strong. He's a really good player.

03:00And he has a small sample size being that he's going into his fourth year. He only has 237

03:05carries, but he's averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Vikings got a good look at him in week two last

03:11year when they beat the San Francisco 49ers. Jordan Mason, 20 carries, a hundred yards and

03:16a touchdown. He looked really good in that football game. This is a good Vikings team

03:20that is now fortified to be in a better position on offense to help rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy.

03:27And Mason can be a long-term solution at the position. Seeing the social media reaction,

03:33San Francisco analysts and fans were all up in arms to be like the Vikings got a really good

03:39player. And I got a lot of those comments personally. They got steel here. Not a lot

03:46of teams are putting investment into that RB two it's rookie contract guys. Well, the Vikings are

03:51making an investment. Is this another market inefficiency for quesito flamenco? It's a very

03:56intriguing one. And one that we're going to see pay dividends on Sundays. I'm Tyler furnace with

04:02az sports. It's called Vikings.

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