Alexander Mattison – RB
As was the case with C.J. Ham, Alexander Mattison being on this list isn’t exactly a criticism of his performance in 2019. Instead, Mattison’s inclusion is mostly due to the puzzling amount of praise he’s received during the current offseason.
As Dalvin Cook has been negotiating for a new contract with the Vikings, some of those who are against paying the top running back have said the team would be just fine if they were forced to insert Mattison into the starting lineup for most of the 2020 season.
Maybe this would be true for a few games here and there. But people are out of their mind if they think Minnesota’s offense would continue to run just fine with Mattison starting in place of Cook for the entire season.
The Vikings backup running back put up some good numbers during his rookie campaign last year. However, these stats should be provided with some context.
The majority of Mattison’s rushing attempts and rushing yards in 2019 came in the fourth quarter of matchups. So when the opposing defense was gassed and exhausted from chasing Cook around all game long, Mattison would come in and zip right by everyone.
Would this still happen if Minnesota’s backup running back got the majority of the touches for an entire contest? It might, but it shouldn’t be something that people assume would be the case in 2020 without much proof to back up their argument.