After spending the 2024 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, former Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison signed with the Miami Dolphins earlier this year, and it sounds like he's already made a good impression on his new team.
On Wednesday, MiamiDolphins.com's Travis Wingfield shared that Mattison has looked impressive so far this summer in the Dolphins' training camp.
"Alexander Mattison is having the type of camp that is impossible to ignore. It’s not live and it’s tough to see the full complement of a back in this setting, but the way he’s seeing it and hitting it at full speed translates. He’s got another chunk winding one back at full acceleration. He looks to be a find by this Dolphins staff."
Former Minnesota Vikings RB Alexander Mattison off to a good start with the Miami Dolphins
Mattison first entered the league back in the 2019 NFL Draft after the Vikings used a third-round pick on him. He showed some flashes in his first season with Minnesota, and the majority of his first few years with the franchise were spent as the backup behind former Vikings running back Dalvin Cook.
In 2023, Minnesota gave Mattison a chance to be the team's No. 1 option in their offensive backfield when they re-signed him and moved on from Cook.
Unfortunately, Mattison was unable to take advantage of his increase in opportunities in the 2023 campaign, and his underwhelming performance that season ultimately resulted in the Vikings releasing him in 2024.
Luckily for the former Minnesota running back, it didn't take him very long to find another job in the NFL, as the Las Vegas Raiders scooped him up shortly after the 2024 free agency period began. In 14 games with the Raiders last season, Mattison rushed for 420 yards and four touchdowns on 132 attempts (3.2 yards per carry) in addition to catching a career-high 36 passes for 294 yards and another score.
During his short time with Miami this year, the former Vikings starter has impressed multiple Dolphins reporters with the physicality that he has displayed out on the field ever since the team put pads on in camp.
Last week, Miami head coach Mike McDaniel was also quick to dismiss any narratives about Mattison that might have been created before signing with the team this offseason.
"There's a version that people have defined [players] as, or put them in a box.
I think Mad Dog [Mattison] is a great example of 'No, here we allow your play to tell us who you are and how you adjust to coaching and how willing you are to invest in your game and your team.'"
Mattison's performance this summer is certainly going to make things much more difficult for the Dolphins when it comes time for them to make the final roster for the 2025 season in a few weeks.
De'Von Achane will enter Week 1 as Miami's No. 1 running back, and Jaylen Wright's roster spot isn't believed to be in any sort of jeopardy. That leaves the No. 3 spot in the Dolphins' offensive backfield up for grabs, and currently, it seems like Mattison has a great chance to emerge from the summer with that role.