If you just look at the raw snap counts for Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon in Week 4 against the Falcons, you might come away thinking Asiata was the workhorse and McKinnon is a change of pace back. After all, Asiata was on the field for 58 percent of the team's offensive plays, while McKinnon played the understudy role, with 42 percent of the work.
However, the numbers are a bit skewed by the first two drives, when Asiata played 13 consecutive snaps to open the game. It seemed like Asiata was in line for a huge workload Sunday, but McKinnon appears to have forced a change in the game plan. McKinnon opened the third drive with a 55-yard run, and the workload changed from that point on.
The Vikings played 63 offensive snaps from the start of the third drive, and McKinnon played 32 of them, with Asiata taking on 31. McKinnon touched the ball on 59.4 percent of his snaps as well, while Asiata touched the ball on just 48.4 percent of his snaps from that point on -- after getting eight touches on his first 13 plays.
Asiata seems likely to continue working as the primary ball carrier for the Vikings, but he just has not been particularly impressive, even accounting for his three-touchdown showing Sunday. McKinnon is less of a sure thing in this backfield given his workload, but he seems to have a much higher upside; even if you remove his 55-yard scamper, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry to Asiata's 3.9.
If you have to own one player in Minnesota, it should be Asiata. He is the starter, and it seems like the team is going to keep going back to him. However, McKinnon is the lottery ticket here. The Georgia Southern product has the higher upside in this backfield, and he might keep forcing the Vikings to change their plans moving forward.
At the Fantasy Football Today blog, I snagged video from the game Sunday to compare how McKinnon and Asiata played.