Following Day 1 on the NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs have reportedly added a veteran running back to their offensive arsenal.
According to Good Morning Football‘s Peter Schrager, the Chiefs have signed free-agent running back Jerick McKinnon on Friday afternoon. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
McKinnon, 28, entered the league as a third-round draft pick with the Minnesota Vikings in 2014. McKinnon played out his rookie contract with Vikings (2014-2017) before signing an eye-opening four-year, $30 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 2018.
However, a knee injury he suffered during practice caused him to miss the entire ‘18 season, and he’d also miss the entire 2019 season when San Fran won the NFC and made their first Super Bowl appearance since 2012.
In 2020, McKinnon played all 16 games for the 49ers, registering 319 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 81 carries. He also caught 33 passes for 253 yards and a score prior to his release from the team.
Now, the 5-foot-9-inch, 205-pound McKinnon comes to Kansas City, who already has a deep running backs room with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson, Elijah McGuire, Derrick Gore, and fullback Michael Burton.
The Chiefs previously released RB Damien Williams back in mid-March – he’s since landed with Chicago – and the move to get McKinnon is likely meant to fill the void that was left when Williams got released.
According to reports from earlier this off-season, the Chiefs were interested in signing former Cincinnati Bengals rusher, Giovanni Bernard but he ended up signing with Tampa Bay instead.
Since Brett Veach took over as GM, the Chiefs have become known for having a large running backs group ahead of every training camp, and it appears 2021 will be no different. When healthy, McKinnon showed that he has the ability to put up some good numbers as a rusher and as a pass-catcher.
