Minnesota
Aaron Jones gearing up for second act as Minnesota Viking
Aaron Jones has begun his eighth NFL season, approaching a new team in Minnesota and his looming 30th birthday in December with the aplomb a running back in the NFL needs these days to stay healthy and relevant.
He’s serious about trying to make the second act of his career as long and productive as the first.
“I feel like every year, I’m getting better and better, and last year I felt like I was just about to start entering my prime,” said Jones, whose 2023 season with Green Bay was limited to 11 games because of hamstring and knee injuries.
Though Jones emerged from all that extra time in treatment with a remarkable surge down the stretch, rushing for 584 yards over the last five games including two in the playoffs, the Packers followed the script for salary cap management and released him after he balked at a steep pay cut for the second consecutive year. The rival Vikings, who ranked 29th in the league last season in rushing yards per game and tied for 27th the year before, swiftly and eagerly picked him up.
“Those last five kind of showed, like, hey, the game’s slowing down a little more and more for me,” Jones said after practice on Monday. “I can see different things, and I’m able to hit different holes or set dudes up the way I want to, versus maybe before I hadn’t been able to because the game was still a little fast.”
Most running backs don’t get the opportunity to translate such improved acumen and increased awareness into more on-field success at his age because teams often decide they’re not worth the price for all the pounding they’ve taken to date in such a pass-driven era.
Jones, who will turn 30 on Dec. 2, has been determined to surpass and even smash the average length of career at his position. He said he has studied durable predecessors in the game like Emmitt Smith and Frank Gore and even asked new teammate Harrison Smith, who at 35 is the oldest active defensive back currently on an active roster in the NFL, for advice on stretching techniques.
“The other day, it was an ongoing question in the locker room: ‘How much money would somebody have to pay you right now for you to stop playing football?’ And I was like, ‘Pretty much like no amount of money,’” said Jones, who signed a one-year contract worth $7 million. “I feel like I have a lot left in the tank. I feel like I could play eight more years.”
Jones missed a total of four games over the four previous seasons before 2023, so he’s had a relatively healthy run with the Packers since he was drafted in the fifth round out of Texas-El Paso in 2017. But he’s fully cognizant of the fragile nature of his occupation. He raved about the proactive approach the Vikings’ medical staff applies to player health, with an individualized pre-practice routine — call it “prehab” — for injury prevention that he started on his own in the summer.
“They were like: ‘We were already thinking about that. We’ve already got a card written up. You just tell us the body part, and we’ve got it,’” Jones said, later adding: “I picked my hammies. I picked my knees. I picked my ankles. Let’s warm it all up.”
Jones said this was the first offseason that he’s done this type of work. He said he feels far more fresh entering this September than he did last year.
“It’s always an experiment, every year,” Jones said. “Just when you think you’ve got it, you don’t. It’s an evolving situation.”
What ought to help keep Jones on the field is the presence of third-year backup Ty Chandler, who rushed for 461 yards and three touchdowns last season and overtook Alexander Mattison as the starter down the stretch. The Vikings could well wind up splitting snaps evenly between them.
“I’m excited to be his running mate,” Jones said. “I know he’s going to do great things this year, and I’m going to push him and be his biggest cheerleader.”
The Vikings have big plans for Jones, though, given his pass-catching skill and ability to thrive with a variety of play calls. His leadership and maturity prompted coach Kevin O’Connell to declare that Jones looked like he already has played with the Vikings for years.
“He’s just a good runner,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “He sees the field really well. He sees a lot and can tell you real time what he’s seeing and why he made a certain cut, so just having another talented back there is also a bonus for us. The offensive line looks a lot better when you have good runners back there.”
Minnesota
Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota
Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.
Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.
Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.
Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.
The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.
The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.
The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.
The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.
Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.
Minnesota
Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters
A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.
The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.
In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.
Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”
The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.
“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.
All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”
Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.
This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.
The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”
Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.
Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”
Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.
Minnesota
Man arrested, charged with threatening to kill a state senator
A Hubbard County man was arrested and charged after threatening to kill a Minnesota state senator on Facebook.
Court documents filed on Wednesday state the Minnesota State Patrol were investigating a threat posted by John Tobias saying that he would “kill every one of you treasonous [expletive] immediately” if he did not get money back that he claims he lost during the 2020 COVID shutdown.
Court documents go on to say that Tobias then called the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office asking for something to be done about “Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ‘unconstitutionally’ shutting down the state due to COVID-19.
The Minnesota State Patrol contacted Hubbard County deputies regarding Tobias. Court documents state Hubbard County investigators were already familiar with Tobais after speaking with him regarding similar threats he made in Jan.
The charging documents state that investigators searched Tobias’ residence on Tuesday and found an arsenal of guns and 45 boxes of ammunition.
Tobias was taken into custody. During an interview with law enforcement, Tobias admitted to making the threat on Facebook. He also told investigators that “he did not have any intention of killing anyone, but admitted he was trying to get people’s attention,” according to court records.
In late 2025, Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol, who oversees Capitol security, told a panel of lawmakers that threats to lawmakers had doubled between 2024 and 2025.
Tobias made his first court appearance Wednesday morning and is expected back in court early next month.
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