SANTA CLARA, Calf. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings acquired restricted free agent running back Jordan Mason from the San Francisco 49ers and rewarded him with a two-year deal worth up to $12 million.
Two people familiar with the deal confirmed the trade that sends a 2026 sixth-round pick to San Francisco on Saturday night. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither team had announced the move.
There is also a pick swap in 2025 with the Niners flipping the 187th overall pick for the 160th.
ESPN first reported the trade.
San Francisco had previously placed a second-round tender on Mason worth $5.4 million for 2025. That gave the 49ers the right to match any offer made to Mason or receive a second-round pick as compensation.
But with San Francisco unwilling to pay that high a salary to a backup and Minnesota unwilling to part with such a high pick, the sides reached the trade instead. The deal the Vikings reached with Mason includes $7 million in fully guaranteed money, one of the people said.
The 25-year-old Mason, an undrafted free agent in 2022, has been very effective as Christian McCaffrey's backup in limited action for San Francisco and now gives the Vikings an option to team with Aaron Jones. The 30-year-old Jones re-signed with Minnesota on a two-year, $20 million this offseason.
Mason rushed for 789 yards and three TDs in 12 games last season for San Francisco, averaging 5.2 yards per carry — fifth best among all qualifying running backs.
Mason has averaged 5.3 yards per carry for his carry, ranking eighth best among all running backs with at least 200 carries in the Super Bowl era.
Mason is the latest key player to leave San Francisco in an offseason exodus so far this month.
The 49ers have cut three key contributors from last season, also traded star receiver Deebo Samuel to Washington and saw 11 other free agents leave for other teams this week as the team resets its roster following a disappointing 6-11 season in 2024.
San Francisco did bring one player back Saturday, agreeing to a two-year, $8 million contract with nine-time Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk just days after he was cut, a person familiar with the deal told the AP on condition of anonymity because the move hadn't been announced.
The Niners had officially released Juszczyk on Tuesday instead of paying him a $4.1 million salary this season and up to an additional $500,000 in offseason workout and per-game roster bonuses. The team took on a $3.6 million dead cap charge with the move, but brought him back on the new deal. Juszczyk was nearly cut last season, but agreed to take a pay cut to stay in San Francisco.
The 33-year-old Juszczyk was one of the first players signed after coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over in 2017 and has been a key part of the offense since, thanks to his versatility.
In an era when few teams use fullbacks, Juszczyk has played about half the offensive snaps during his time with San Francisco and has made the Pro Bowl all eight seasons with the team and nine times overall. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and second-teamer in 2024 after fullbacks were added back as a position for All-Pro the past two years.
Juszczyk had 19 catches for 200 yards and two touchdowns last season, while also rushing for 26 yards and a TD. He has 184 catches for 1,895 yards and 13 TDs in eight seasons with the Niners, along with 237 yards rushing and six more TDs on the ground.
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FILE - San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason (24) runs in the first quarter during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Oct. 27, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Scot Tucker, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Todd Golden knows exactly what he expects out of his fourth-ranked Florida Gators.
“We have a chance to win a national championship,” Golden said as his Gators accepted the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship trophy Sunday.
Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points as Florida won its fifth SEC Tournament title and first since 2014 Sunday, beating the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers 86-77.
“I came here because I believed in that vision,” Clayton said of winning titles at Florida. “See it come to fruition, it actually happening, is great.”
The Gators (30-4) lost in this game a year ago. This time, they showed off their depth going through No. 21 Missouri, No. 5 Alabama and now the Vols. The result is finishing their 12th appearance in this game all-time to add another title to the list that started with three straight between 2005-07.
“When we are playing like this, I think we are the best team in America," Golden said.
Will Richard added 17 points for Florida. Alex Condon had 13, Thomas Haugh 11 and Alijah Martin 10.
Richard wore one of the nets around his neck talking to reporters, and the senior made clear he doesn't want his first to be his last. This is just more motivation.
“Cutting down the nets is a great feeling, but we want to be able to do that in the NCAA Tournament as well,” Richard said.
Fourth-seeded Tennessee (27-7) goes home still looking for its first title in this event since 2022. The Vols have five SEC championships, but dropped to 1-3 under coach Rick Barnes with this the Vols' fourth final in the past seven tournaments.
“We came with the idea we wanted to win this tournament,” Barnes said. “Disappointed that we didn’t. We get to go again next week. Hope that we can survive and keep moving on.”
Jordan Gainey led the Vols with a career-high 24 points. Zakai Zeigler had 23 and Chaz Lanier added 11 before fouling out.
“The experience we’ve had, playing the best of the best in this conference is going to help us in March, and that’s the biggest goal,” Tennessee senior Jahmai Mashack said of balancing the disappointment of the loss.
These teams split during the season with each winning routs defending their home courts. The Vols had enough fans that this felt like a home court. Yet they led only briefly, the last less than two minutes in at 6-5.
Florida took over from there. The Gators jumped out to a 34-22 lead and took a 39-30 edge into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating deep 3 from Denzel Aberdeen. Tennessee never got closer than five in the second half.
Clayton also had a net around his neck, and he got to cut down a net at Iona in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference where he was the league player of the year before transferring to Florida. He recalled his first title back in high school where no one was allowed to cut nets for a simple reason.
“They had games after us,” Clayton said with a big smile.
There was some momentary confusion during the postgame ceremony when Richard first was announced as the MVP, then Clayton.
Tennessee: Playing this tournament in the Volunteer State doesn't help the Vols. They are 1-5 all-time in SEC title games in this state. They go home with the last tournament title won in Tennessee back in 1936 in Knoxville.
Florida: The Gators have played a program-record seven games this season with both teams ranked in the Top 10. They now are 5-2 after going 6-16 before this season.
Tennessee got within five four times in the second half. After the final time, Clayton's 3 with 6:48 left started an 11-2 spurt to seal the win.
The Gators dominated the boards 39-25 and 15-5 on the offensive glass.
Both teams await their seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Florida center Rueben Chinyelu (9) cunte part of the net to celebrate victory over Tennessee after an NCAA college basketball game in the final round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
