Kene Nwangwu Is An Explosive Player
Henrique Gucciardi
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One thousand, eight hundred, and fourteen days. That’s the number of days between Kene’s kickoff return touchdown against the Ravens and our last one, in 2016. Oddly enough, the last time Nwangwu returned a kickoff to the house was also in 2016, his freshman season. Kene Nwangwu isn’t the Devin Hester “human joystick” type but has blazing speed, evidenced by his 4.31 40-yard dash.
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The Vikings drafted him 119th overall last April because of his speed and returning ability, and it was great seeing him display it on that 98-yard return. He also ran a fake punt, getting a handoff and running 9 yards to move the chains. It is early to say it (he only played in two games), but we may have finally found a kickoff returner, after experimenting with the likes of Ameer Abdullah, KJ Osborn (great receiver though), and others for five years.
I want to see Kene (and you can include Ihmir Smith-Marsette here too) being used on the offense as well. I know we have Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison as running backs, but neither of them possesses the speed and explosiveness that Nwangwu has. I’m not saying that he needs to be a permanent part of the offense, but put him in a wildcat formation with Cook. The defenses will either let Cook run or Kene’ll have an opportunity to break free. You could also dare a little bit more, putting those two on the field but passing the ball with Justin Jefferson; we saw him do it a couple of times this season.
The Vikings have been trying to find a returner since we lost Cordarrelle Patterson in 2017. This time, we may have drafted someone with the potential to replace him. Kene Nwangwu has a bright future for the Vikings.
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