We don’t know what the future looks like for the Vikings and running back Dalvin Cook.
Chances are, your fantasy football draft is still a month or two away.
When healthy, Cook is one of the best running backs in the league, along with being a top-5 fantasy pick.
With Cook, as of right now, there are two huge risks with him in the fantasy world. The first is his current contract and the possibility that he could hold out.
The second is Cook’s injury history. In his first three years, Cook has missed 19 of 48 games.
If you do roll the dice on Cook, which could pay off big time, you should also draft his backup, Alexander Mattison.
Andrew Erickson over at Pro Football Focus lists the 2019 third-round pick as one of the best handcuff options for the 2020 fantasy season.
Here’s what Erickson wrote about the situation:
The hype around Mattison in a featured role is warranted — his efficiency was right on par with Cook last season. They both ranked in the top 20 in yards after contact per attempt and in forced missed tackles per attempt among running backs with at least 100 attempts. Mattison showed enough in 2019 to earn more touches in 2020 regardless of Cook’s availability.
It also helps that the Vikings ran the ball at the fourth-highest rate in 2019 — and that is likely to continue under Gary Kubiak. Mattison totaled 110 touches in 13 games last year (8.5 touches per game). He will also likely benefit from some positive touchdown regression; his one score on 26 red-zone attempts was the lowest in the league.
Erickson also lists five other running backs you should draft that might be a bit under the radar. You can read that here.