5 things that must change for the Minnesota Vikings in 2019
By Tim Arcand
The offense will need more balance
In order to help Kirk Cousins win more games this season, the offense will need to be more balanced. To anyone who follows the Vikings, this is a topic that head coach Mike Zimmer has mentioned more times than most of us can count.
When the Vikings won 13 games in 2017 they averaged 122.3 rushing yards per game during the regular season. The ground game made up 35 percent of the offense and was seventh-best in the NFL. The Vikings were fortunate to have three running backs to share the load. Latavius Murray led the team with 842 yards Jerick McKinnon had 570 yards and Dalvin Cook 354 playing in only four games.
Last season, the running game dropped to 93.3 yards per game only good for 30th in the NFL. The running game only accounted for 25 percent of the team’s offensive yards. Cook, returning from a knee injury, led the team with 615 yards and a 4.6-yard average. This was just 0.2 yards per carry less than his pre-injury pace in 2017.
On a less than positive note, McKinnon signed with the 49ers and the Vikings third option at running back was Mike Boone. Boone, an undrafted free agent from Cincinnati, only carried the ball 11 times for 47 yards.
This season Cook will need to carry the load for the Vikings. The only other running back on the roster with any NFL experience is Ameer Abdullah and according to OurLads he is fourth on the depth chart. In four seasons Abdullah rushed 327 times for 1,251 yards. In 2015 and 2017 he led the Lions in rushing.
A lot is going to be expected from third-round draft choice, Alexander Mattison from Boise State. Mattison was the seventh running back selected in the draft this year. In three years at Boise State, he averaged 4.9 yards per carry and 33 touchdowns.
To put that into perspective, in three seasons at Florida State, Cook averaged 6.5 yards per carry and 46 touchdowns. While we can be excited about Mattison, I do not expect him to contribute much—as long as Cook remains healthy, which is another concern.