Minnesota Vikings: What could Stevan Ridley bring to team?
By Ben Ryan
Tuesday, March 10, the NFL free agency market opened officially at 4 p.m. ET.
Even days before then, there were rumors regarding potential trades that had fans buzzing like crazy. Thousands of tweets, and rumors that went around that spread like wildfire. The latest rumor about the Minnesota Vikings’ running back situation is potential pick-up of New England Patriots’ halfback Stevan Ridley.
First the Pats lose Shane Vereen to the Giants, now possibly Ridley? That would be quite the dagger for them, but have no fear Patriot fans, we all know they’ll be alright when it comes down to it. No need to be scared.
Anyways, back to the potentially important news.
According to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the “Vikings have inquired” about the free-agent Stevan Ridley. After all, it makes perfect sense why they would.
Sep 7, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley (22) gets ready for the game at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
With 290 attempts, Ridley rushed for 1,263 yards and brought along 12 touchdowns to those yards in the breakout 2012 season. The LSU stud followed the next year with 773 rushing yards but with almost one hundred less attempts. So, if you do the math when he averaged 4.3 yards a carry, and say he continued that with the same attempts as the prior year, he would’ve rushed for around 1,200 yards. Obviously that didn’t happen though, but the thought that it could’ve is impressive.
Regardless of those made up numbers and calculations, Ridley is a very impressive running back. Even if the Minnesota Vikings lose Adrian Peterson, they’ll be in good hands with Ridley. So don’t stress too much Vikings fans, everything is going to be alright.
Coming off a horrid ACL and MCL tear in Week 6 of the 2014 season against the Buffalo Bills, Ridley is going to want to come back with some swagger. He knows he’s an important player so expect him to have a great 2015 season wherever he goes. If these rumors are true and the Vikings do make an offer for him, he’s going to get the ball a lot. Granted he has had some ball security issues in the past but yet again so did Peterson, so it should be an easy fix. Otherwise this could mean more designed plays for him and in general, he would make the offense more versatile. Another step to adding some weapons to the arsenal.
If Ridley ends up in Minnesota, it would be arguably the best case scenario for them as of now, especially if they lose Peterson. He’s proven he can be the guy you want every down of every game.
Ridley would be coming from the very well known, and 2014 Super Bowl-winning Patriots, he’d be the “big guy on campus” in some degree. The Patriots obviously throw much more considering they have Tom Brady, so with a whole new offensive playbook, Ridley could be a huge star for the Minnesota Vikings. The team needs a man like that, though. They’re going to want a back who has proved to be the guy for the next few years. Whether that’s McKinnon or Ridley, somebody is going to have to take control in the backfield.