Who has a chance to be the Minnesota Vikings’ kick returner in 2018?

Which players on the current roster of the Minnesota Vikings will be competing this summer to be team’s kick returner for the 2018 season?

From 2013 to 2016, the Minnesota Vikings did not have to worry about figuring out who their kick returner was going to be heading into each season.

The Vikings had the luxury of having an All-Pro return-man in Cordarrelle Patterson. Although he did not work out as a receiver in Minnesota, Patterson led the NFL in yards per kick return in three of his four seasons with the Vikings.

Even before Patterson was added to the roster in 2013, Minnesota had another dynamic kick returner in Percy Harvin. Thanks to the skills of Patterson and Harvin, no team in the league has returned more kicks for touchdowns since 2009 than the Vikings (10).

With Patterson gone last season, Minnesota had both Jerick McKinnon and Marcus Sherels sharing the role as the team’s kick returner. Unfortunately, the Vikings’ kick return production in 2017 with McKinnon and Sherels sharing the role was not as high as it had been in the recent past.

Minnesota’s longest kick return last year was just 39 yards and last season was also just the second time in the last nine years that no Vikings player returned a kickoff for a score.

Minnesota special teams coach Mike Priefer will likely be looking to get more production out of the team’s return game in 2018. And that could result in the Vikings going with someone completely new as their kick returner.

Who are a few players that could be competing during Minnesota’s training camp and preseason this year to be the team’s kick returner in 2018?