Vikings sign RB McKinnon, now have all draft picks signed

Vikings sign RB McKinnon, now have all draft picks signed

Published Jun. 10, 2014 7:06 p.m. ET

There will be no holdouts for the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota signed running back Jerick McKinnon, a running back out of Georgia Southern drafted in the third round, on Tuesday as the last of the 10 draft picks to sign.

McKinnon, the second of two third-round picks for the Vikings, started 31 of his 47 games at Georgia Southern while playing quarterback, running back, wide receiver and cornerback. Minnesota was intrigued with the physical ability of McKinnon, who could fill a role as a pass-catching back for the Vikings even though he finished his four years in college with 10 total catches.

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"I feel real comfortable," McKinnon said last month. "Ran a little bit different offense in college, as far as catching the ball, I'm really comfortable with it."

McKinnon finished at Georgia Southern with 3,899 career rushing yards and 42 rushing touchdowns, despite spending most of his time on offense as a quarterback in the team's option offense.

Without star Adrian Peterson at organized team activities last week, McKinnon got the chance for some first-team repetitions along with Matt Asiata, who is likely the top backup to Peterson after Toby Gerhart signed in Jacksonville.

"We have a couple different types of backs," coach Mike Zimmer said last week. "(McKinnon) has a chance to do a lot of different things. Matt is kind of an all-purpose guy. He's a good runner, good protector. He's probably not as explosive as (McKinnon) is, or Adrian, but he can take some punishment, he can give some punishment. I've been really impressed with the way he's worked in the weight room this offseason.

"So actually, we're always looking for different types of backs. We're not always looking for the same guy. You want to have a change-of-pace guy, you want to have a guy who can catch the ball out of the backfield and obviously you want to have Peterson."

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