For the majority of his career, Alexander Mattison has been considered one of the NFL's best backup running backs. He's been working behind Dalvin Cook in Minnesota for the past four years, but in his six career starts, Mattison has totaled 477 rushing yards, 216 receiving yards, and five all-purpose touchdowns.
In 2023, he'll finally get the chance to be the lead back after the Vikings released Cook as a cap casualty earlier this month. Mattison feels like he's ready to take on the responsibility.
"It definitely changes things," Mattison said during a radio appearance, per NFL Media. "I like to go into every season preparing like I'm the back. That's kind of where my mindset has always been. That's kind of where we, as a running back group, held ourselves to that standard of. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for having Dalvin in that running back room and challenging me to challenge him every single day, so that kind of helped me out within my preparation.
"Yeah, with that understanding of knowing kind of where my role is going to be and maximize it. I've been a lot more prepared in the way of understanding where I'm going to be at in the playbook, where I'm going to have to be at physically, my stamina. It's just a whole bunch that I have to now take into account but without applying too much pressure, of course, because this is a game of ball that we have grown to love and grown to adapt to at all different levels. I'm definitely comfortable as a professional athlete and understanding what I have to do to get the job done. Now just cranking that thing up and getting ready for this opportunity that I have in front of me."
While the opportunity is now there for him, he didn't think it was going to happen this way. With Cook under a large, long-term contract and Mattison heading into free agency this offseason, it seemed like he might be on his way out the door. In fact, he actually thought that's how it would have gone down, initially.
"There wasn't much anticipation," Mattison said of Cook's release. "I actually didn't think that I'd be back in Minnesota, so it's a blessing to be back, to be in a place where I spent the first four years of my career and loved it there. To be there, be a part of this team, this locker room, the ownership, the staff. It's a great place to be, so I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, and while I'm with this opportunity in front of me, I just see so much upside. Just coming back into year two of this offense under coach K.O. (Kevin O'Connell) and (offensive coordinator) Wes Phillips. They just, they know what they're doing, and we've gone back to the drawing board, and we've seen a lot of where we can improve from last year, especially in the run game, so it's pretty exciting."
Minnesota finished last season 28th in Football Outsiders' rush offense DVOA with Cook as the lead back averaging a career-low 4.4 yards per carry. Mattison didn't perform quite as well as Cook when it came to yards per carry or yards after contact, but he did break tackles more often, convert in third- and fourth-and-1 situations more often, and was more consistent at gaining 5-plus yards per carry (43.2% of his attempts vs. 34.1% of Cook's), which could perhaps lead to the Vikings being a bit more consistent in the run game this season.
