Aaron Jones didn’t play for Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell in 2023, but O’Connell kept tabs on what Jones did to close out his final season in Green Bay.
Jones ran for at least 100 yards in each of Green Bay’s last five games and then moved on to the Vikings as a free agent in the offseason. He remained in good form as he ran for a touchdown in the first half and piled up 93 yards on his first 13 carries against the Giants in Week One.
Jones’s 13th carry came with the Vikings up 28-6 just before the two minute warning and quarterback Sam Darnold told him that O’Connell was going to give him one more chance to keep the streak alive. Jones only picked up one yard, but he made it clear at a Wednesday press conference how much it meant that O’Connell gave him a shot.
“I really respect Kev for that,” Jones said. “He left me in there. I seen Myles [Gaskin] about to run in. It was kind of special to me. The players know coach, they know KOC, because they see Myles about to come in and then he stops and goes back off the field and they look at me and they’re like, ‘You must be close to a hundred, he’s gonna let you get hundred.’ . . . I didn’t get it, but just to have that opportunity, a lot of people wouldn’t do that, so I’d like to thank coach for that, that was special. My teammates, they were amped up to get to a hundred as well. We’ll get it this week and the weeks following.”
The 49ers will have something to say about how Jones fares this week, but the fifth game in that Packers run came in Santa Clara during the playoffs so he’s had success against them in the past.
