The Minnesota Vikings have had an important offseason after bringing Mike Zimmer and now the team could look to sign Andre Brown, Maurice Jones-Drew or Willis McGahee at running back as free agent options or drat players like Carlos Hyde, Lache Seastrunk, Tre Mason, Bishop Sankey or Ka'Deem Carey to be Adrian Peterson's backup now that Toby Gerhart has left for the Jaguars.
The Vikings had a rough season in 2013 after making the playoffs the previous year and now they are looking to have a bounce back season with a new regime taking over, including Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator. Matt Cassel returned on a two year deal after opting out of his contract at the end of the season and now one of the biggest priorities for the team will be finding a solid backup for Adrian Peterson. Matt Asiata had a couple breakout performances last year when Peterson was hurt and he was solid with over 40 carries over the back stretch of the season, but he may not be ready for a fully feature role and that could mean an option like Brown or Jones-Drew, who likely will come in cheap after being on the market this long.
Toby Gerhart has been a solid backup for Peterson since he was drafted out of Stanford and he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a free agent on a three-year, $10.5 million deal and now ESPN.com writer Ben Goessling writes that the team could look at the draft and free agency as options to replace him. This season the draft class is deep and names like Carlos Hyde, Tre Mason, Bishop Sankey and De'Anthony Thomas will be available and they all could be options for the Vikings if they opt to avoid adding anyone in free agency.
Gerhart showed his value last season when Peterson went down for a bit and with the star turning 29 years old, the Vikings realize they need an insurance plan, especially after Peterson had that ACL surgery just two years ago. While he has been great since then, including his 2,000 yard season, the team needs to ensure they have depth at the position and Gerhart was great last season in that role, going for over 90 yards against the Packers in that tie last season and also rushing for 89 yards against the Ravens and that included a 40-yard touchdown in that exciting game that had live four scores in the final two minutes.
The team likes young players Bradley Randle and Joe Banyard, but they do not appear ready for the big time yet and that could lead to the team adding someone in the draft as well. Jones-Drew is on his last legs, but he rushed for over 800 yards last season and he could still be a very solid backup, especially with Turner calling things. Brown came back from an injury last season and was the feature back for a time with the Giants and he showed that when he is on the field he can be very effective. McGahee would be a back-backup option, but he showed last season with the Browns that he still has some juice left in the tank.
