Former Tennessee Vols standout is forcing his way onto the NFL field

Running back Ty Chandler had one heck of a Saturday afternoon for the Minnesota Vikings.  The second year running back was fast, physical, and effective with the ball in his hands, totaling 132 rushing yards on 23 carries with a touchdown in the Vikings' 27-24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. 

The former Tennessee Volunteer gave the Vikings what they haven't had much this year: a solid ballcarrier.  In fact, he delivered what no Vikings runner has had this season: a 100-yard rushing game. 

Chandler was already a more effective runner than incumbent lead back Alexander Mattison - Chandlers' 4.7 yards per carry is far better than Mattison's 3.0 - but now Chandler has made himself an essential part of the Vikings offensive plans moving forward. 

Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell talked Tuesday about Chandler and where he fits into the Vikings' offensive plans. 

Alex is going to try to work himself back this week. We will see how he does throughout the week. There is no question that I thought Ty had a huge role and impact on the game the other day, and we’ve been giving Ty more and more carries throughout the middle part of the season, especially going back to losing Cam Akers for the duration of the year. Ty is absolutely a guy that is going to continue to see a featured role in our offense. What that looks like moving forward as far as who gets the first touch of the game and all those things, we’ll continue to work through based upon what we are attempting to do scheme wise. But there is no question that we have confidence in Alex, but I think Ty has done a lot of great things and will continue to do so and will hopefully be a huge reason why we are able to have success offensively down the stretch here. - Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell

As far as his development, O'Connell noted Chandler's strong performance in an area that vexes many young running backs and keeps them off the field: pass protection.  

"As great as Ty was running the football the other day, there were some great moments in protection on some play passes, where he solidified some things for us," O'Connell continued. "Had great awareness of the looks we're playing against. Whether it was going fast in tempo situations, tried to get them going on a screen, got them going out of the backfield for a big third and short conversion. It's just all of the different aspects that I think Ty brings to the table."

Chandler spent four years in Knoxville with Tennessee under Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt before transferring for his final season for Mack Brown at UNC.  In four years in Knoxville, he totaled 2046 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns before doubling his career rushing touchdown mark in Chapel Hill during the 2021 season. 

Now, the young running back appears to be making another big step in Minnesota with the Vikings.  If O'Connell and his staff continue to give Chandler the opportunities he deserves, then it won't be long before Chandler finds himself putting up numbers on a weekly basis that will make it impossible to keep him off the field.