NFL Fantasy Football: Will Toby Gerhart Carve Out Value in 2011?

Ryan LesterJun 7, 2018

Toby Gerhart’s 322 rushing yards and 21 catches for 167 yards hardly made him a blip on the 2010 fantasy football radar. Neither did his one lonesome touchdown. Adrian Peterson has been a model of consistency his first four seasons in the league. So will there be enough touches to make Gerhart a fantasy option?

Assuming Brett Favre is gone for good, which I believe is the case at least for the Vikings, then this will likely be a run-heavy offense once again. That style would make sense with a rookie quarterback (Christina Ponder) or a virtual rookie quarterback (Joe Webb) under center. When Bill Musgrave developed Matt Ryan, he was firmly committed to running the ball extensively. The Vikings can’t simply give the ball the Adrian Peterson 25 times a game. They will have to mix in Gerhart.

Chester Taylor made a nice living as Adrian Peterson’s sidekick for three years. Gerhart may not have the same skill set that Chester had, but he showed some pretty decent hands, catching the same percentage of passes (72 percent) as Adrian Peterson did. He still has a long way to go to be anywhere near Chester’s level, both in terms of catching the ball out of the backfield and in pass protection, but he should be improved with that year under his belt.

Another thing he’ll have to work on is ball control. Vikings fans are all too familiar with fumbling issues, and that is the quickest way to get in a coach’s doghouse.

The Vikings plan on being more creative this year. Perhaps Toby and AP share the same backfield more often. Perhaps they let bigger Gerhart close games out (assuming the fumbling isn’t an issue). I don’t think it will be anywhere near a DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart arrangement, but Gerhart could have some value, primarily as a handcuff, but you never know.