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Fantasy Football Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickup: RB Jerick McKinnon

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By @RyanCTerrill

jerick mckinnon

Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Week 6 was the week that patient fantasy football owners of Minnesota Vikings RB Jerick McKinnon had been waiting for. Those five percent who had stashed McKinnon on their bench in hopes of him taking over the starting RB role are about to be rewarded significantly. For the 95 percent of you who don’t own McKinnon, I highly recommend adding the rookie to your lineup because he will be the Vikings’ go-to guy moving forward.

I have been preaching McKinnon’s huge upside since RB Adrian Peterson’s suspension earlier this season. After receiving some fantasy recognition backing up RB Matt Asiata in Week 4, the Georgia Southern standout was finally given the lion’s share of the backfield workload in Week 6, starting over Asiata and playing in more snaps (48-15).

Of those 48 snaps, he received 17 total touches for 82 total yards from scrimmage against a stout Detroit Lions‘ defense, good enough for eight fantasy points in standard leagues and 14 fantasy points in PPR leagues (ESPN Scoring).

Heading into Week 7, McKinnon has another tough fantasy matchup against the Buffalo Bills, who have surrendered an NFL-best 8.7 fantasy points per game to opposing RBs. However, there is potential in the passing game for fantasy owners, especially in PPR leagues, since the Bills have given up the third-most targets to RBs (50).

McKinnon hauled in all six of his targets last week against Detroit, so QB Teddy Bridgewater might utilize the “sure” short pass often this week after coming off a confidence-destroying three-interception performance. With a decent matchup in the passing game, I would consider McKinnon a low-end flex starter in PPR leagues this week.

Despite the unfavorable matchup in Week 7, the outlook for McKinnon in the upcoming weeks is very promising. Tampa Bay, Washington, Chicago and Green Bay are his next four matchups, and all have soft defenses which McKinnon could easily exploit with his promotion in the running game. The talent, upside and upcoming schedule are all there for McKinnon to be a huge waiver wire acquisition in every fantasy football league this week, so grab him while you can.

Ryan Terrill is a Fantasy Sports Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @RyanCTerrill, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google+.

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