ZWK
Footballguy
Gio has been one of the best receiving backs in the NFL over the past 2 years. Over 40% of his yards from scrimmage have come in the passing game (including playoffs).I see this comparison a lot but the two have little in common other than height. McKinnon is a much better runner and athlete than Gio. He also doesn't have the receiving skills that Bernard has. He may gain them in time but he's very raw as a receiver still. Gio is really a Sproles type back whereas I believe McKinnon is effective on early downs and could turn into a 3 down back.I see McKinnon putting up Gio Bernard type numbers. In my ppr league Gio avg ppg was rb10 (lower on total points due to playing only 13 games) Project Gio over 16 and he would have had 206 carries and 53 touches. That is almost exactly what I expect from McKinnon this yr.It's looking more and more likely that AP isn't going to be back with the Vikings. So how high do we view McKinnon as a lead dog? Can he even be a lead back? He sure has the athleticism for it, and his rookie season was pretty nice with flashes. 4.8 YPC on 113 attempts is not the largest sample size, but I think it's enough to at least project him as a good RBBC guy for this year.
Gio averaged 4.0 per carry and 8.1 per catch. McKinnon averaged 4.8 and 5.0. Clearly McKinnon needs to improve his yards per catch, but that isn't hard to imagine with his athletic ability. He should be great in space and clearly showed some of that skill with 4.8 per carry
McKinnon was one of the worst receiving backs in the NFL last year. According to PFR, he had 3.3 yards per target, which was last in the NFL among all players (at any position) with 25+ targets.