ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Vikings will release Aaron Jones if they can’t trade him before the start of the league year.

01 March 2026

The Vikings have a lot of cap space to create and this was always the likely move based on that calculus. Jones probably won’t attract much interest on the trade market as he enters his age-32 season and has started to leave a concerning number of games with injuries, in addition to being placed on IR for a short stint early in the 2025 season. He’d likely only have head-of-committee ceiling heading into the 2026 offseason. Schefter added that the same trade-or-release ultimatum exists for DT Javon Hargrave.