INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It appears running back Aaron Jones is set to make his return for the Vikings.

After missing the past month and a half with a hamstring injury, Jones was officially activated from injured reserve in the hours leading up to kickoff against the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium.

Though the 30-year-old will still have to go through warmups to make sure he’s feeling good, he has been trending in the right direction since the Vikings opened up his practice window earlier this week.

Asked about the potential of him playing despite only participating in walkthroughs, head coach Kevin O’Connell noted how Jones is a veteran that doesn’t necessarily need a practice to get himself ready to go.

“He knows what he has to do,” O’Connell said. “He knows what he needs to feel like.”

The natural thought is that Jones will bring an added dynamic to the running game for the Vikings, and while that might be the case, he might even make a more substantial impact in the passing game.

The way that running back Jordan Mason has proven capable of shouldering the load in the absence of Jones has been evident. He has 84 carries for 380 yards this season and probably should continue to be the bellcow out of the backfield.

The area in which Mason has fallen short is as a pass catcher. In fact, Mason has ceded a lot of those reps reserve running back Zavier Scott, who has regularly come into the game on known passing situations.

The fact that Jones thrives as a pass catcher could go a long way.

Not only is he comfortable when targetted out of the backfield, he’s also been known to split out wide from time to time, which could open up different parts of the playbook for the Vikings that haven’t necessarily been available over the past month and a half.

Maybe the best highlight to this point for the Vikings came when Jones ran a wheel route and hauled in a pass from quarterback J.J. McCarthy for a touchdown. That’s an element on offense that the Vikings haven’t had since Jones has been out of the lineup.

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