Alexander Mattison: What’s His Fantasy Value Without Dalvin Cook?

Alexander Mattison: What’s His Fantasy Value Without Dalvin Cook?

The Minnesota Vikings won 13 games and decided to tear down their roster. However, as fantasy football managers we have no control over that. The cards are dealt how the cards are dealt and that means Alexander Mattison is a starting running back. Now that Dalvin Cook is gone, what does this mean for Mattison’s fantasy potential?

Elite. That should probably be the word used here for Mattison. Well, he’s not an elite player but the fantasy situation is elite. All Mattison has done is proved that he can put up monster production without Cook in the lineup. When he’s the guy, Mattison puts up points.

Alexander Mattison has started six games without Dalvin Cook in his career:

* 26-112-0 rushing, 6-59-0 receiving
* 25-113-0, 7-40-1
* 22-90-1, 3-29-0
* 13-41-1, 3-29-0
* 10-26-0, 1-4-0
* 21-95-1, 3-50-1

Backups will be Ty Chandler, DeWayne McBride, Kene Nwangwu.

— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) June 8, 2023

I still don’t see much competition on the roster here for Mattison. Ty Chandler might catch some balls as a third down guy. DeWayne McBride stinks and has a serious fumbling issue. Something we went over during his draft profile. The volume aspect here should remain very encouraging for fantasy managers.

The production part is what we should talk about. Ryan Fitzpatrick is great when you ask him to fill in periodically. When he’s your number one quarterback the dust starts to settle in. I’d imagine that’s going to be the case for Mattison. Good back but what happens when I give him 220 touches? Mattison was at 3.8 and 3.7 yards per carry the last two years. Not great…

Also, the Vikings as a team are probably worse this year. I’m not sure they’re winning 13 games again after ridding themselves of some key veterans. It’s not like hidden gems from previous drafts are coming in. If the Vikings have the leads fewer times, that’s going to impact Mattison’s fantasy value. You want running backs on good teams with the lead.

Mattison is also largely unproven as a pass catcher. I think he can do it but you’re not getting those designed screens like you had with Cook to bail out the offense. Mattison is a much more power back that’s going to hit the hold and not mess around. You have to wonder how much he’s involved there. Plus Mattison has some shaky knees as it is and I’m not sure he’s going to get totally run into the ground. Again, Chandler will probably get some passing down looks.

At the current moment (obviously could change) Fantasy Pros has Mattison as RB28. I think that’s WAY too low. I’m not sure Mattison puts up peak numbers from past years without Cook but he’s a much safer bet than 28. There aren’t 28 teams that even give a dominant workload share to one guy, which Mattison likely has on his side this year. I wouldn’t pick him as a top 10 back but I think he has every chance to be one. I’m sorry but give me Mattison ahead of James Conner or even Travis Etienne.

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube