Minnesota Vikings: Gerhart May Be No Adrian Peterson, but He's No Scrub Either

With Adrian Peterson's knee and rehab still a concern for many Vikings fans, I thought I would take a quick look at the fellow who will fill in for him, Toby Gerhart.

Gerhart played his college ball at Stanford University, in Palo Alto California, and was selected in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

There were relatively high expectations for Gerhart's rookie season, but sitting behind Adrian Peterson provided few chances to show his stuff.

He got a few more carries in 2011 when Peterson went down with multiple ligament tears in his knee, and if Peterson's rehab doesn't have him back in the lineup by Week 1, it will be Gerhart who carries the load until AP is ready.

Gerhart improved on his first year performance by increasing his yards per carry from 4.0 to 4.9 yards.

While he lacks Peterson's big-play ability and out and out speed, Gerhart does a lot of things well and could easily be a starting back for just about any team.

So there wouldn't be much of a hiccup if he had to work as feature back into the season.

Gerhart is a big, bruising back who shows very good burst through the hole and between the tackles. He won't escape to the outside very much, but is a decisive interior runner who can do some real damage at the second level.

He also catches the ball very well and is an added threat out of the backfield on screens and short routes as well as dump-off passes.

Is he going to give you the production Peterson does? Is he going to distract defenses the way Peterson does?

The answer to both questions is no.

However, he is a good back who can keep the defense honest and give the offense some good yards, as well as being good in short-yardage and goal line situations.

Losing Peterson can't be termed as a "good thing" by any measure.

That doesn't mean that having Toby Gerhart in the game is by any means bad.

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