There’s plenty of reason to believe Mason will emerge as the Vikings’ RB1 in his second season with the team. Alec Lewis of The Athletic highlighted him as a training-camp standout: “If you are searching for standouts at training camp, look for Mason. The 27-year-old returned this summer in exceptional shape, and his explosiveness shows up in team drills.”
2026 Fantasy Football Impact: The RB1 Push Is On
Those overhauled run concepts already appear to favor Mason in the RB1 battle. Lewis made the same point: “[Kevin] O’Connell trusts Aaron Jones implicitly, but Mason’s burst and vision fit perfectly with the overhauled run concepts.”
But even just going back to last season, Mason proved to be the far more efficient rusher, outproducing Jones’ rushing yards per game despite being given fewer rush attempts.
Mason also dominated the high-value rush attempts, accounting for 42.5% of the Vikings’ rushing touchdowns compared to Jones’ 18.9%.
From what we know from last season, and with Jones getting a year older, nearly all signs point to this being Mason’s backfield, and that’s been noticed in training camp.
