Kansas City Chiefs Touchdown Machine Jerick McKinnon Is In A Contract Year

After catching two touchdown passes against the Denver Broncos, Jerick McKinnon now has seven receiving touchdowns in his last five games.

The Kansas City Chiefs running back also made history, becoming the first back since Joe Morrison of the New York Giants in 1966 to record a touchdown reception in five consecutive games.

“It’s extremely special,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “He just finds a way to get in the end zone.”

McKinnon’s special season is coming at an opportune time. His contract expires at the end of the season, and he has positioned himself for a hefty raise.

He is in the second of back-to-back, one-year deals with the Chiefs, totaling $2.15 million, following three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, who signed him to a four-year, $30 million contract.

McKinnon is stuffing the stats during his contract year.

He is second on the Chiefs in touchdown catches (eight) — a number that is tops in franchise history for running backs in a single season — and third on the current team in receptions with 54. He also has 285 rushing yards.

As a result, his next contract likely will be much more lucrative, though not break the bank, considering McKinnon’s injury history and age.

On Sept. 1, 2018, McKinnon tore his ACL during practice and was placed on injured reserve.

McKinnon suffered a setback from his knee surgery during the following year’s training camp and landed on injured reserve on Aug. 31, 2019. Without McKinnon on the active roster, the 49ers reached Super Bowl LIV before losing to the team McKinnon would join two years later, the Chiefs, 31-20.

In addition to missing the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he will turn 31 next year.

“As a running back, those are dog years,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “He’s like a dinosaur at that position.”

Though joking about McKinnon’s age, Reid praised his work ethic and conditioning, which has allowed him to bounce back and contribute so significantly to the Chiefs.

Those contributions continued in Week 17 when he had 52 yards receiving, including two touchdown catches in the 27-24 victory.

On the first one, which came with about a minute left in the first half, Denver blitzed off of Mahomes’ left side, and McKinnon slipped out of the backfield for the six-yard score.

With 12:40 left in the game, the Chiefs faced a second and goal, and the play design tried to draw the defense’s attention to the right side, where two tight ends and a fullback lined up, but McKinnon slipped out of the backfield to the left — while Marquez Valdes-Scantling ran interference — for the three-yard touchdown.

“The second one was a great designed play.” Mahomes said.

Despite those two scores, McKinnon’s best play Sunday may have come with 3:08 left in the first half.

On 2nd and 8, he lined up on the far right side as a wide receiver. He gained 28 yards on the passing play while deftly cutting inside cornerback Lamar Jackson and then spinning away from linebacker Jonathon Cooper.

The ability of the veteran back to line up as a wide receiver shows his versatility.

“There’s nothing that he can’t do,” Reid said. “He does everything so well. He’s got the good hands, he can run well, he can run inside, outside, he’s a good blocker, picks up blitzes.”

And he’s a particularly adept weapon on screen plays. He most notably showed this skill against his former 49ers team when he gained 34 yards on a 3rd and 20 late in the third quarter of the Chiefs’ 44-23 Week Seven win.

It was a back-breaking play.

In addition to big plays, McKinnon also has great intangibles.

Reid lauded the tutelage he’s offered younger backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Isiah Pacheco, and Mahomes effusively praised McKinnon’s presence on the team.

“Everybody loves him, and that’s the type of guy he is,” Mahomes said. “He’s probably one of — if not — the favorite guys in the locker room.”

The question remains whether the free-agent-to-be will be back in that Kansas City locker room next year.

In the meantime he is enjoying his career resurgence.

“(It’s) just a blessing,” McKinnon said.