Will Aaron Jones play Thursday night football against the Chargers?

The Vikings officially opened veteran running back Aaron Jones’ 21-day practice window on Tuesday, and he has a chance to play as early as Thursday against the Chargers.

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Jones has been out of the lineup since Week 2 with a hamstring injury. It’s not a given that he’ll dress for a short week, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.

“He’s a guy you don’t really need to test too much, because you know, in his rehab and the work he’s done in the secondary. He’s a veteran player, he knows what he has to do,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said Tuesday. “He knows how he needs to feel. We’ll be smart with Aaron, but at the same time we know he’s here for a reason, and we know what he can bring to our offense.”

“We’ll see how he reacts,” O’Connell continued, “because he didn’t play on Sunday, he can do a little bit more, either with the coaches or working in parallel in conjunction with what he’s doing on the tour to mentally prepare for where he’ll be on Thursday.”

Jones had 13 carries for 46 yards in Minnesota’s first two games of the season. He was dynamic last season with over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and seven total touchdowns, so bringing him back into the lineup would be a huge boost for the Vikings offense.

If Jones is unable to go Thursday night, the Vikings will continue to rely on Jordan Mason as their bell cow, with rookie Zavier Scott and veteran Cam Akers as backups.