Aaron Jones was not surprised at all that the Vikings were among the NFL's elite teams

Expectations on the outside were fairly low for the Minnesota Vikings in 2024. Sure, parts of the team had lots of talent, but replacing Kirk Cousins with Sam Darnold based on what those two quarterbacks had accomplished at the NFL level felt like a recipe for disaster for Minnesota.

With the NFC North projected to be one of, if not the toughest division in the NFL, the odds of Minnesota being in the playoff race felt slim to most. Well, that wasn't exactly the case for longtime Vikings rival Aaron Jones.

Jones, a running back who spent the first seven years of his career with the Green Bay Packers, signed a one-year deal to join Minnesota shortly after being released by the Packers. He knew big things were ahead once he got to work with Minnesota, as he said on Stacking the Box: FanSided's NFL Podcast ahead of the Super Bowl.

Aaron Jones knew the Vikings would be good immediately once he started playing with his teammates

When asked what surprised him about this past season, Jones said that nothing really surprised him about how good they were because he expected it.

"It didn't catch me by surprise how well we did. From the get-go, when I got there in OTAs, me and Sam got there together - working with him, I'm like 'man, this kid can throw the ball.'"

The biggest surprise to most NFL fans about this Vikings team this past season was Darnold's play. Once upon a time, Darnold was drafted with the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft with the expectation of being a franchise quarterback, but struggled to gain his footing as a starter in stops with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers. With Minnesota, however, he played like an elite quarterback for much of the year, leading them to be one of the league's best teams.

It wasn't just Darnold that impressed Jones early on, though.

"We get to camp and we start going against the defense, I already played against Flo's defense. We get there and the weapons they have now, and I'm like 'okay, we're gonna be good.' You throw in JJ who was playing at the time too. He was doing well, Sam was doing well, I'm like "we've got everything we need here."

One look at Brian Flores' defense was enough for Jones to know that unit was going to be good. Sure enough, the Vikings defense wound up allowing just 19.5 points per game this past season - the fifth-fewest in the sport. Jones was a believer in the defense, a believer in Darnold, and a believer in the team's weapons, mainly Justin Jefferson. That, in his mind, was enough to convince him that they'd be good.

While the team's level of play didn't surprise him, Jones did reveal one surprise from this past season, and it had nothing to do with their on-field production.

"I guess the thing that caught me by surprise, I would say, is how a group of men were able to come together in such a short time. I've been on a lot of teams, and I feel like that was the closest brotherhood... It says a lot about that organization and how they do it. I loved it there."

Jones just spent his eighth season in the NFL with the Vikings, and he says that team was as close as quickly as any he has been a part of. Considering some of the Packers teams he was on were great, hearing just how highly Jones spoke about his time in Minnesota is incredibly refreshing. Considering how useful of a player he turned out to be, Vikings fans would love to see him back in Minnesota.

Aaron Jones spoke to FanSided's Stacking the Box podcast at the Super Bowl on behalf of Sleep Number.