Why the Vikings chose Alexander Mattison
EAGAN — Alexander Mattison wasn’t a free agent for very long. He re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings on March 15, the opening day of free agency.
At the time, the assumption was that the Vikings were going to move on from Dalvin Cook and wanted Mattison as part of their backfield. In a recent Yahoo! Sports interview, he confirmed that he wouldn’t have come back unless he was given a chance to start.
“I wasn’t signing to come back and be a backup,” Mattison told Yahoo! “Going into it, we knew what it was and understood the situation and all the details that were all gonna unfold later and were part of the business of being in the NFL. But yeah, signing that contract, I knew.”
Despite a number of other experienced backs hitting the market, the Vikings have remained with Mattison as the only runner with double-digit career carries on the roster. In the opening days of camp, there has been no questions about whether he’s RB1 or not. This is his show. So why were they so willing to buy into a player who only has six career starts?
“Alex has been a really good player, not just last season but before that when he had those times to come in when Dalvin [was out].” GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said.
Mattison’s traditional statistics do not shine the way you might expect for a player who is suddenly going to be relied upon heavily. He averages 4.1 yards per carry and hasn’t topped 500 yards in a single season. But not all yardage stats are created equal, according the Vikings’ GM, who said Mattison maximized his opportunity when he got the ball.
“What he is really good at doing is earning extra…taking the play and getting more than what it’s worth,” the Vikings’ GM said. “Being able to fall forward physically, making people miss the second level things like that. Really good in the passing game as you saw a little bit last season as well. So, he’s a complete back in both phases, can handle pass protection, all those things. Those were things I was excited about, frankly, when I first got here and obviously confirmed it when I saw it last season.”
Last year he did not have enough carries to qualify for NFL NextGEN’s public Rushing Yards Over Expected statistics but Mattison was above average in 2019 and 2020 and below average in 2021 by RYOE metrics. PFF has graded the former Boise State star favorably in three of his four seasons, including last year.
Of course, the decision goes beyond the stats. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips sees Mattison as having command of Kevin O’Connell’s offense.
“He always knows what to do, he’s very intelligent as far as our scheme, our system and he’s a talented back when he’s running,” Phillips said. “He’s always going forward, he’s got more wiggle than I think people give him credit for. There were a lot of times where the free guy in the hole, the eighth guy, he made him miss.”
“It was a no-brainer for us to bring him back,” Phillips added.
The one area that Mattison is unlikely to match Cook is in his home-run hitting ability. Cook could go for 75 yards at any given moment. The gap for explosive runs might not be quite as wide as you’d think though. Mattison has 47 rushes over 10 yards in 410 carries. Cook had 31 on 280 carries last year. The 10-plus rate isn’t that different. For Phillips, however, it’s more about the down-to-down production.
“Consistently producing yards and keeping us ahead of the chains where you have more of your call sheet available as games progress is really important,” Phillips said.
Cook had more rushes of zero or negative yards than any other RB in the NFL. The Vikings are banking on Mattison avoiding that.
He may also be more of a weapon in the passing game with his proven ability to catch the ball. Cook only managed 39 receptions for 295 yards last season. Mattison had 32 in a part-time role in 2021 and 16 in just 86 snaps in 2023.
“He is multi-faced in the run game, pass protection, hands in the passing game and route-running ability…I think we’re going to see a lot of good things and maybe people didn’t realize what a good player Alex Mattison really is,” Phillips said.
It turns out that Mattison’s receiving prowess developed in part because of ribbing that he got from his college roommate and teammate Avery Williams (currently with the Atlanta Falcons).
“He used to always tell me that I couldn’t catch,” Mattison said on Thursday. “Late nights of hours catching with him and arguing with him made my hands better, I would say.”
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Catching effectively is something Mattison works on, making sure that he goes through a pre-practice routine every day to get ready for passes that will come his way.
“[Receiver] Cedric Wilson, he plays for the Dolphins right now, he told me that you don’t catch with your hands, you catch with your eyes,” Mattison said. “Getting my hands right, getting my eyes right and making habits of that. There’s a lot of different things that I work on to have good hand-eye coordination and different techniques and technology you can use to work on.”
Just because the Vikings liked Mattison enough to bring him back does not mean he’s going to dominate the carries the way Cook did from Day 1 in Minnesota. The battled for RB2 will be worth watching closely between Kene Nwangwu, Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride — all recent draft picks.
“We’re in a good position, they all have different skill sets that compliment each other,” Phillips said. “Alex is a big, physical back. Kene has a different burst, a different juice, a different speed. Ty Chandler was very productive in the pass game as a college player. I think they’re all complete players.”
The Vikings have a chance to improve on their overall run game. Last year they were 26th in team yards per attempt and 27th in total yards.
