an aspect of Gerhart's play that hasn't been mentioned very much is how gifted he is catching the ball out of the backfield. while only rarely thrown to at Stanford, the coaching staff and Andrew Luck raved about how good his hands were. in limited playing time with the Vikings, Gerhart has shown that the praise is well-deserved.
in his first start of the season, not only did Gerhart run for 91 yards on 21 attempts, he also caught 8 passes for 42 yards. he was targeted 8 times, and caught every single pass thrown his way.
to put this in perspective, playing rare spot duty to go along with 1 start, Gerhart has caught only 1 fewer pass than Adrian Peterson (15 catches for Gerhart to 16 for Peterson) while also averaging slightly more yards-per-catch (8.1 for Gerhart, 7.8 for Peterson). possibly the most unexpected factor of Gerhart's receiving ability is his talent for picking up yards after the catch, as he has more YAC yardage than Peterson on fewer catches (120 YAC for Gerhart to 110 YAC for Peterson).
furthermore, these numbers don't include Gerhart's superior ability to pick up blitzes.
Gerhart is obviously a complete back, and hopefully he will be able to go play for a team that values his talents. until then, here's hoping he continues to impress in his limited opportunities in Minnesota.