5 running backs the Vikings could select in the 2019 NFL Draft

Rodney Anderson (Oklahoma)

Measurements:

Height: 6-feet | Weight: 224 pounds

2017 Stats:

• 188 carries, 1,161 yards (6.2 average), 13 touchdowns
• 17 catches, 281 yards (16.5 average), 5 touchdowns

If the Vikings are looking for a true replacement for Latavius Murray, Anderson could be their man.  Anderson is a bit of a long strider and he can lower his shoulder and plow through would-be tacklers, picking up extra yardage, and moving the chains. He shows good vision and patience, waiting for the hole to open up before bursting through it.

Anderson can be a threat catching the ball as well as rushing with it. His best season as a Sooner was when he was a sophomore in 2017. Anderson caught 17 balls for 281 yards and five scores that year to go along with 1,161 yards on the ground and 13 rushing touchdowns. The reason his sophomore season was his best though is because it was the only one where he was actually healthy.

Anderson has a lengthy injury history. In 2015 he broke his fibula, which required surgery. In 2016, he broke a vertebra in his neck and he missed the entire season. Then in 2018, Anderson tore his ACL during the second game of the season and missed the rest of the year.

That injury history will push Anderson into Day 3 of the 2019 draft. Teams will be very wary of his durability and rightfully so. He is a high risk, high reward type of prospect.

Anderson would fit in well with the Vikings and he could come in and use his power in short-yardage and in goal-line situations. With his receiving ability, he could also spell Cook for a series or two.