A Pro's pro...

Many Vikings players have connections to running back Aaron Jones Sr.

Even the ones who haven’t been around him long.

Running back Zavier Scott recalled his shock in 2024 when Jones, a Pro Bowl selection then entering his eighth NFL season, asked Scott, a second-year undrafted free agent, for advice on how Jones could improve a practice rep.

Fullback Max Bredeson, a rookie fifth-round pick, said Jones has pumped up his confidence from the day he arrived. He tells Bredeson, “I’m tied in with you,” on every run play they have together — such as Jones’ 18-yard gain in the Aug. 22 preseason opener against the New York Giants.

Running back Demond Claiborne, a rookie sixth-round pick, called Jones his “blood brother.” He said he talks to Jones “day and night” about everything from how to win as an undersized NFL running back to life lessons on maturity.

Jones, 31, is entering Year 10 of his NFL career — all in the NFC North between seven years in Green Bay and now three in Minnesota — but still has reasons to have a proverbial chip on his shoulder.

He has now accepted pay cuts twice in four seasons, including a $4.4 million one this offseason to stay with the Vikings.

Yet Jones said he has no resentment, only gratitude.

“I would love to play for a lot longer,” Jones told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Continue the mentor role, continue to bring young players along. I’ve found that’s also one of my joys. They bring me back. They keep me young. They’re grateful to have me here as well.”

Demond Claiborne finds a ‘perfect model’ in Aaron Jones

Claiborne, 22, and his four brothers were raised by a single mother: “Father was absent and out of the picture.”

Jones was close with his father, Alvin Jones Sr., who died of complications from COVID-19 in 2021.

Claiborne never met Alvin Jones Sr., but he has heard a lot about Alvin: how he was as a father and what Aaron learned and applied as a father himself to 6-year-old Aaron Jones Jr.

“Him being able to open up to me about that,” Claiborne said, “and how every day he works to heal from that. That’s been something that me and him have talked about a lot.”

“It gives me some type of encouragement to continue to push through and keep going,” Claiborne added. “Seeing how he maneuvers through life or how he does things as a father, it’s been something I look up to. Eventually, when I have my kids one day, A-Jones is the perfect model and idol to follow.”

Jones credited some former Packers teammates for setting that example early in his career as a 2017 fifth-round pick out of UTEP: Jamaal Williams, Davante Adams, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb among them.

But how does Jones feel the love from a Vikings team that reduced his salary?

Coach Kevin O’Connell showed gratitude during an early team meeting in training camp. O’Connell often points out positive examples of practice behavior. This time he wanted to show the Vikings how Jones finishes every run to the end zone, “no matter how many defenders swarm or try to rip out the ball,” linebacker Blake Cashman said.

“Highlighting Aaron to show, ‘Hey, you younger players — you rookies: this is how you practice; this is a true pro,’ ” Cashman said. “He comes in, he’s about his business, goes about it the right way.”

Aaron Jones still has the explosiveness to lead Vikings run game

“The explosiveness is still there,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said, “but it’s really the brain in the backfield. He makes our job a lot easier just setting up blocks. We’re doing a lot of different stuff with wide zone, mid zone and tight zone, so for him to set up blocks and make his cuts, it makes our jobs a lot easier. That’s what Aaron does.”

That 18-yard run against the Giants is one example of that.

To make the play work, Jones had to stretch a wide-zone run almost to the sideline. He head faked to freeze Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux for a beat, widening the rushing lane enough for him to burst through to the edge for a huge gain.

The Vikings’ revamped rushing attack, which looks “very different” to Cashman in practices, will lean on Jones as the head of a committee that includes Jordan Mason and Claiborne.

“I’m super excited about this year,” Jones said. “It’s going to be the best one yet for myself and for this run game.”

Part of Jones’ excitement comes from working with younger players like Claiborne. While discussing Claiborne after a training camp practice, Jones looked up and saw the rookie putting in extra work with an assistant coach.

“Look at him out there working right now,” Jones said. “He does his studying, really in tune with it. To see somebody have the love like that for it makes me want to give it all to him.”

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