Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is coming off yet another stellar season in which he led the NFL in rushing with 1,485 yards on a 4.5 YPC average and scored 11 touchdowns. But he also led the league in rushing attempts with a whopping 327, 39 more than the next closest guy and the fourth time in his career he's topped the 300 carry mark. With his 31st birthday just a few weeks away, it's fair to wonder how much longer the veteran ball-carrier can keep this up.
In fact, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is thinking the same thing. While the third-year head coach believes Peterson is more than capable of handling the majority of the workload in Minnesota's rushing game, he still wants to reduce the number of hits Peterson takes next season. That means we could be seeing more of Jerick McKinnon in 2016.
"I think he can still handle the same role he's had," Zimmer said of Peterson. "I think we have to do a better job of continuing trying to get him more space to run so he's not running into a hundred guys all the time. But I do feel good about McKinnon's role and being able to take some plays off him because he's good."
McKinnon has excellent quickness to him and is a quality pass-catching option. Towards the end of the 2015 season the Vikings developed more plays to get the ball to him in space. They even lined him up as a receiver and fed him the ball on some jet sweeps. Zimmer believes he can "find a lot more things for [McKinnon] to do," which doesn't surprise us.
During the 2014 season when McKinnon was helping to replace a suspended Peterson, the 23-year-old runner rushed for 538 yards on a 4.8 YPC and caught 27 passes for 135 yards in 11 games. This past year he rushed for 271 yards and two touchdowns on a 5.2 YPC while catching 21 passes for 173 yards and one additional score.
Peterson may have another solid season in him, but the Vikings would be wise to lessen his workload and keep him as fresh as possible. Fantasy football owners should start putting McKinnon on their radars right now.
