Fantasy Impact: Jerick McKinnon

Fantasy Impact: Jerick McKinnon

Jerick McKinnon will finally be given the opportunity he has been waiting for. McKinnon signed on with the San Francisco 49ers for 4 years and 30 million dollars, with an average annual salary of 7.5 million. According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, McKinnon will be the lead back, and Shanahan expects him to be used in the Devonta Freeman role when Shanahan was the Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator. When those comments were made, social media blew up with “he’s not as good as freeman” and “he can’t run between the tackles like Freeman can” type of comments. Here’s the thing….I don’t think that Shanahan was comparing him or his game to that of Freeman. In fact, you can argue that he’s more like Tevin Coleman than Freeman. And he is. He simply was saying that is what his role would be. Meaning: He will be getting 60% of the carries and the majority of goal-line carries. Here’s a look at how Freeman and Coleman stacked up in the 2016 Atlanta off

Fantasy Impact:

I for one, am very excited for Jerick McKinnon in 2018, and he will be one of the running backs that I will be targeting…Depending on price of course. We all know how the fantasy industry over-reacts to certain situations. If you’re one who isn’t buying the hype of McKinnon in this offense, well then, you just might miss out. On the other hand, if you’re someone who believes in the potential that McKinnon can bring to your fantasy team, you run the risk of drafting him to high. It’s March, so we have a lot of time and need to pay attention to his ADP in the summer. However, I don’t think it is completely irrational to believe that he could be a RB1. Will he finish ahead of: Bell, Gurley, Elliot, Kamara, Fournette, Freeman, or Hunt? Most likely not. Is it possible he out-performs: Gordon, Ingram, McCoy, Hyde, McCaffrey, Howard or Barkley? Yes, it is. He was a RB2 in 2017 while taking a backseat to Latavius Murray in the running game. He is a better between the tackles runner than people think he is, and has the ability to take it to the end-zone anytime the ball is in his hands (Forced a missed tackle every 5 carries- 8th best in the NFL according to PFF). I would be ok if you drafted him in the top of the 3rd round, and wouldn’t be surprised if he gives you more value than that.

Side Note: If he’s being used in the Freeman role, that means that someone will be used in the Coleman role…Is that Matt Breida? Joe Williams? Jeremy McNichols? Raheem Mostert? Breida has the inside edge in my opinion since he was on the field the most when Hyde wasn’t. Regardless of who it is, that player will be fantasy relevant.