Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said Aaron Jones was “pretty sore” after Minnesota’s Week 2 win against the Bears.

21 September 2026

He also said he will “be talking about options at running back.” The subtext here is that Jones can’t handle 23-carry workloads in his age-32 season. DeeJay Dallas and Demond Claiborne are their backups on the roster with Jordan Mason on injured reserve. Dallas was just signed earlier this month. Claiborne is “not yet ready to carry the load” per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. We expect reporting to reveal the second main member of this committee at some point this week, and there’s a chance that said player is in the flex conversation against the Buccaneers in Week 3.