Circumstances aren't looking too good for Jerick McKinnon.
On the eve of training camp season around the National Football League, 90-man rosters are already filled with scores of veterans and rookies hoping to win a coveted spot in the backfield of their respective franchises. For an aging veteran like McKinnon, who has dealt with his fair share of injuries over the years, the writing might be on the proverbial wall.
Perhaps even that much should already be obvious given the fact that McKinnon sat out the 2024 campaign already. Looking forward to another season after a lost one provides a straightforward message most of the time. But McKinnon has beaten long odds before, and it stood to reason that he might find his way onto fourth NFL team at some point as a flyer.
We wouldn't be surprised to hear Jerick McKinnon officially announce his retirement from the game.
Instead, there's been zero discussion of McKinnon as an option of any kind for RB-needy teams. It doesn't help veterans like McKinnon that this year's NFL Draft class was loaded with talent at the position. The Kansas City Chiefs even grabbed a late-round talent themselves in the seventh round with their selection of Brashard Smith out of SMU.
Even last season, the Chiefs were in need of some running back help with Isiah Pacheco injured. The Chiefs turned to a familiar face, but it was not McKinnon. Instead they summoned Kareem Hunt back to the franchise after five seasons away with the Cleveland Browns.
This offseason, they've also taken a flyer on a former injured San Francisco 49ers running back, but Elijah Mitchell was their choice to potentially provide some dynamism in contrast with the more violent and anchored running styles of Hunt (who was re-signed in free agency) and Pacheco (who enters his contract season in 2025).
The bottom line is that McKinnon is likely out of chances in the NFL, and maybe that means he's done for good. While some players still try to extend their careers in other leagues or levels, McKinnon has made more than $23 million in his career, so it shouldn't be about the money involved.
McKinnon meant a lot to the Chiefs' organization during his three-year run with the team from 2021-2023, a span of time that included two Super Bowl championships. However, after a prolonged career that began in the 2014 draft, there aren't going to be any carries in his future.