His role has increased in the last two weeks and the Minnesota Vikings’ running back has taken full advantage of his new opportunities.
After having their annual “Rip Our Heart Out” ceremony in Week 4 when rookie running back Dalvin Cook went down with a torn ACL, the Minnesota Vikings had to scramble and figure out what do with their offensive backfield for the rest of the 2017 season.
During the offseason, the Vikings were able to sign free-agent back Latavius Murray and it was assumed by some that he would pick up the slack left by Cook’s absence. However, a more familiar face in Jerick McKinnon has transitioned into being Minnesota’s leading running back since Cook went down less than three weeks ago.
In his last two games, McKinnon has scored three touchdowns, rushed for 164 yards (82 per game), and caught 11 passes for 81 yards. His 5.7 yards per touch average since Week 5 has even been higher than what Cook was averaging per touch (5.1 yards) during the Vikings’ first four games this season.
Minnesota has scored four touchdowns in the past two weeks and McKinnon has been the player to find the end zone on three of them. He has lost two fumbles in each of the last two games also, but the running back is fully aware that this is a problem that has to be solved as soon as possible.
"“The D-lineman just did a good job of getting a hand in there and I just got to do a better job of protecting (the football). It just got loose on me and I can’t take those things for granted. Definitely something that I’ll detail this week more than I did last week and I plan to fix that real quick.” Minnesota Vikings The Viking Age 0d - 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history More headlines around FanSided: 1d - Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North 1d - Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take 1d - 6 Vikings who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster in 2023 2d - Which teams could be drafting a quarterback next year? 2d - Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022 More News at The Viking Age"
McKinnon has been with the Vikings since the team drafted him with a third-round selection back in 2014. Considering he was not even a full-time running back during his college days at Georgia Southern, him even still being in the league is a testament to his incredible work ethic.
Thanks to Adrian Peterson missing 28 games from 2014 to 2016, McKinnon was able to gain some valuable experience out on the field. Something that has definitely played a part in his recent success for sure.
Being that he is currently in the last year of his contract with the team, McKinnon’s future with the Vikings beyond 2017 remains an unknown. However, based on the poor quality of the upcoming free-agent class of running backs, McKinnon may be better off chasing the money this offseason while he still can.
Next: Vikings' Week 6 game grades
But for now, the running back is the top guy in Minnesota’s offensive backfield and no longer playing in anyone’s shadow.