Getty Head coach Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
In a game where the Minnesota Vikings ran a season-high 71 offensive plays and Sam Darnold put the ball in 10 different players’ hands, third-year running back Ty Chandler was absent from head coach Kevin O’Connell‘s game plan.
Chandler disappeared from the game plan in a 21-13 Week 9 win over the Indianapolis Colts, failing to play a single offensive snap for the first time this season as Cam Akers has taken over the backup role behind Aaron Jones.
A 2022 fifth-round pick, Chandler was coming off an impressive end to his second season a year ago, winning the starting job from Alexander Mattison late in the 2023 season.
He started this season as a backup to Jones but has seen a decline in his involvement on offense. Through the first five weeks, Chandler saw the field on 36% of offensive snaps.
Since then, he’s played just 7% of snaps.
Minnesota Star Tribune beat reporter Ben Goessling restated the concerns surrounding Chandler, who is in the third year of his four-year, $3.8 million rookie deal.
“I don’t think they’re terribly happy with Ty Chandler in some capacities of the game. I think pass protection has been a question with him and he just hasn’t seemed to have the explosiveness that we’ve seen from him at times. And certainly in that Jets game [Week 5], it was really the last time we saw him,” Goessling said on the “Access Vikings” podcast.
The Vikings are short on draft picks in 2025 and could consider trading away Chandler if they could recoup a fifth-round pick by the league’s November 5 trade deadline.
Chandler isn’t necessarily trade bait, but given the coaching staff’s lack of trust in the North Carolina product, it’s not a stretch to suggest Minnesota could look elsewhere for running back depth for the future.
Vikings Prove Contender Status Despite Close Scrape With Colts
GettyQuarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.
Despite the score appearing close, the Vikings (6-2) put forth a dominant effort against Indianapolis and entered the final 48 hours of the season’s trade window as contenders.
Time of possession was an issue O’Connell hoped to remedy with more short throws that would also open up the running game.
Darnold attempted a season-high 34 pass attempts, completing 28 throws (82.4%) for 290 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He led the offense to a season-high 415 total yards in what was one of the Vikings’ most dominant performances of the season if not for the interceptions.
Minnesota had the ball for a 36 minutes, 54 seconds, allowing the defense to get more rest and swarm Colts quarterback Joe Flacco.
The defense held Indianapolis to 227 total yards of total offense. The Colts converted just 3-of-11 third-down attempts.
Most importantly, the offense cleaned up the pre-snap penalties that had plagued the team in recent weeks. Minnesota kept a clean sheet before the snap and committed just three penalties the entire game.
These are all meaningful improvements to the issues that ailed the Vikings in back-to-back losses coming out of the bye week.
Vikings Should Add to Defense at Trade Deadline
With Akers gaining more reps in the offense last week, the Vikings’ needs at running back seem less dire. He took 6 carries for 46 yards, three of which went for first downs, and also added 2 catches for 7 yards.
Defense remains where the Vikings could use some depth.
Expect to see chatter surrounding an addition at either cornerback or defensive tackle ahead of the 3 p.m. deadline on Tuesday, November 5.
Trevor Squire is a sports journalist covering the NFL and NBA for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks. Trevor studied journalism at the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities, making stops at the Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @trevordsquire. More about Trevor Squire
