Kansas City Chiefs RB Jerick McKinnon drew his first start with the team in the wild-card round against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite a tremendous performance in the wild-card round, Chiefs HC Andy Reid isn’t ready to commit to McKinnon as a full-time starter just yet.
McKinnon filled in for an injured Clyde Edwards-Helaire and a limited Darrel Williams in Sunday’s win over the Steelers, just as we predicted he would. He carried the ball 12 times for 61 yards and caught six passes on six targets for 81 yards and a touchdown, turning in one of the most impressive offensive performances in the game.
Asked whether McKinnon had earned the right to be the starter moving forward, regardless of who is available to play, Reid stopped short of naming him the starter. It sounds like they’ll continue to use a committee approach moving forward.
“That’s a good problem to have, so we’ll just see how it all plays out,” Reid told reporters. “Darrel (Williams) tried to go, but he was having a hard time pushing off that toe. We’re fortunate to have a number of running backs that we feel are good runners. (Derrick) Gore is another one, and then we’ll just see about Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) and what we’ll get from him.”
The Chiefs still clearly have a ton of faith in the other two players who fall ahead of McKinnon on the depth chart. Williams had 1,000 scrimmage yards this season and is one of the better pass-catching backs on the team. The team obviously has a lot invested in Edwards-Helaire and his development as well. That said, McKinnon paid his dues and showed up in a big way in an elimination game. That should buy him some good grace in the eyes of the coaching staff.
Even Patrick Mahomes gave McKinnon his endorsement following the game.
“First off, I’ve seen it from training camp on that he’s a playmaker,” Mahomes said of McKinnon. “I mean there’s a reason he’s been a playmaker in this league for the last few years here. Obviously, he’s dealt with injuries in his career, and he dealt with a little bit of injury this season, but he’s kept his mindset right, he kept working hard and I knew with some other guys kind of being down and dinged up, he would step up and fill in nicely.”
Travis Kelce, who was one of the first to celebrate with McKinnon after his touchdown grab, also had high praise for the first-year Chief.
“He just brings the energy,” Kelce said. “He runs his tail off. Every single week, every time he gets the ball he is non-stop downhill aggressive runner and that’s fun to play with. That’s fun to block for. You know you have the upper hand when you have a guy back there with his ability and talent. Sure enough, you saw it on showcase tonight. Both the run game and the pass game.”
In terms of yards per reception and yards per carry, McKinnon’s performance against the Steelers was one of the best by a Chiefs running back this season. McKinnon’s play passed the eye test too. He has the speed and explosion at the position that the team has been lacking, giving the team an option on the perimeter as well as rushing up the middle.
As Andy Reid says, a deep running back room is a good problem to have. It’s unclear how the RB snaps will shape up moving forward, but McKinnon should and likely will play a big role in the divisional round.
