Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
There may once again be fantasy relevance at the Minnesota Vikings running back position with Jerick McKinnon grabbing the spotlight in his the team’s latest game against the Atlanta Falcons. It’s a changing of the guard in Minnesota as McKinnon joined fellow rookie Teddy Bridgewater by infusing excitement into an organization that so desperately needs it. With his 18 carries and 135 yards against the Falcons, I urge you to jump on this guy because he could be a star by the end of the year.
McKinnon is ridiculously athletic and he does everything well. While Matt Asiata will still get the goal line carries as evidenced by his three touchdowns on Sunday, McKinnon possesses the speed and explosive ability to be a game-changer that opposing teams need to account for. McKinnon was a quarterback in college at Georgia Southern in their triple-option scheme, and that has allowed him to make an easy transition to the running back position.
As with every waiver wire pickup, you need to be careful of the anomaly or one-week wonder, but I believe that Mike Zimmer and the coaching staff will continue to feed this guy the ball. With Adrian Peterson‘s absence, the Vikings need a primary back, and McKinnon has the best chance of achieving that.
Quite honestly, you may even consider starting him this week as they travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers Thursday night. While the Packers are coming off a 38-17 victory over the Chicago Bears, their rush defense is awful. The Packers were completely overmatched by the Chicago offensive line en route to giving up over 200 yards rushing. This, combined with Bridgewater’s questionable injury status, could allow McKinnon to become a work horse in Week 4.
Do yourself a favor and pick him up this week.
