Adrian Peterson left the Vikings-Packers game during the third quarter. He had to be carried back to the locker room as he could not put any weight on his leg. While it is potentially bad news for Peterson, it opens the door for Jerick McKinnon to take over the Vikings backfield and become a fantasy star.
The Vikings announced on Monday that Adrian Peterson has a torn meniscus. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer noted that Peterson has not been ruled out for Week 2.
If Peterson is forced to miss any time, McKinnon could become a great fantasy option and should be added in most leagues. This is especially true for those playing in PPR leagues. The challenge for fantasy owners is it looks like the Vikings will use McKinnon and Matt Asiata. It cuts into both player’s fantasy value but does not make them irrelevant. McKinnon is likely to be involved in the passing game as well which increases his value.
IF AP were to miss significant time, Vikes will deploy RBBC featuring Asiata (power) and McKinnon (multi-purpose). Invest in latter.
Despite having limited action in 2015, McKinnon still managed to have two double-digit fantasy games of 14.6 and 21.7 in standard scoring leagues.
He had more opportunities in his rookie season when Peterson was serving a season-long suspension. While McKinnon found himself in a timeshare in 2014, he still managed to have games with 15.2 and 10.1 fantasy points.
According to ESPN, he is owned in just 24.1 percent of leagues.
McKinnon is in his third NFL season out of Georgia Southern. He was selected in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Vikings with the 96th overall pick. McKinnon is a much different style runner when compared to Peterson. He is 5’9″ and 205 pounds which forces him to rely on his speed to be effective.
On 166 carries over his NFL career, he has averaged 4.9 yards per carry. In 2012, McKinnon rushed for 1,817 yards and 20 touchdowns at Georgia Southern.
Here’s a highlight of McKinnon scoring the game-winning touchdown against Florida:
Comments