Rookie RB Jerick McKinnon, who missed last Sunday's game with a lower back injury and was ruled out of tomorrow's game vs. the Jets on Friday, will miss the rest of the season after being placed on injured reserve today.
McKinnon currently leads the club in carries (113), rushing yards (538), and yards per carry average (4.8). Fellow running backs Matt Asiata, Joe Banyard and Ben Tate are expected to shoulder the load over the final four games of the regular season.
To fill McKinnon's spot on the roster, the Vikings promoted DE Justin Trattou from the practice squad and, to take Trattou's spot, the club signed S Ahmad Dixon.
Dixon was originally drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 7th round (248th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft, has been signed to the Vikings practice squad. Dixon had stint on the Vikings practice squad earlier this season before being signed to the Bears active roster. While with the Bears, Dixon recorded three special teams tackles and recovered a muffed punt. He was a three-year starter at Baylor and started 38 of his final 39 games with the Bears. As a senior, Dixon was named first-team All-American and was a consensus first-team All-Big 12 selection. Dixon finished his senior campaign with 81 tackles, two tackles for loss, six pass breakups, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
