Cincinnati Bengals vs. Minnesota Vikings
Jordan Mason comes over to the Vikings from the 49ers in the offseason, and is in an incredibly strong spot on Sunday to see a significant workload. Already a big part of Minnesota’s game plan, we saw Mason go for 68 yards on 15 carries in Week 1 against the Bears. Week 2 the game script didn’t set up well trailing the entire game against the Falcons, but he still saw nine carries.
Now, not only will the Vikings be playing with backup quarterback Carson Wentz under center, but the other half of the backfield, Aaron Jones, has been ruled out due to injury. Against a Cincinnati defense that gave up 139 rushing yards to the Jaguars last week, Mason will get all the backfield work, and the plan could be to go rather heavy on the ground game with Wentz slotting in as the starter.
Mason has proven he can handle feature running back work loads — just look back to what he did to start last season in San Francisco when Christian McCaffrey was injured. Through the first five games of the 2024 season, Mason averaged 107.2 rushing yards per game, and went for 77-plus in each of them. And then we have this from Vikings’ head coach Kevin O’Connell: “I’m not sure we could have more confidence in Jordan as a potential bell-cow kind of back.”
The workload is going to be there. Mason just has to make yards out of it at home against a bad Bengals defense.
You can find my full NFL Week 3 card in my Best Bets Cheat Sheet on DK Network.
NFL Pick: Jordan Mason OVER 76.5 Rushing Yards (-112) 2-units
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