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.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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.