4 underutilized Vikings who should see more snaps in 2022

Kene Nwangwu – RB

Heading into this season, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the depth of the running back room for the Vikings. Most assumed that Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison would get the majority of the snaps, but some also felt that Minnesota could mix in Kene Nwangwu or rookie Ty Chandler at times during games to change things up a bit.

But instead of utilizing the depth of their running back group, the Vikings have only used Cook and Mattison this year as Nwangwu and Chandler are both still waiting for their first offensive snap of the season.

Chandler is a rookie and him not getting a snap on offense isn’t hard to understand given his inexperience. However, with Minnesota’s rushing offense ranked 22nd in the NFL after the first four weeks of the year, they might want to see if they can find a way to get Nwangwu a few touches per game moving forward.

First, he’s already active for each contest since he’s the team’s top kick returner. Second, Nwangwu is blazing fast and just the mere threat of him potentially breaking off a long run should be something that the Vikings’ offense takes advantage of each week.

Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell always talks about the illusion of complexity when it comes to his team, but no opponents have really been fooled by a backfield that has only featured two of the Vikings’ four running backs.