The Minnesota Vikings’ offseason pivot at running back included rewarding running back Alexander Mattison with a two-year, $7 million contract after the decision was made to move on from veteran Dalvin Cook.
Cook was nearing the end of a five-year, $63 million contract and the assumption was the Vikings wanted to flip to more of a running back by committee situation. That would start with Mattison but not require him to be a bellcow in the backfield.
The likely scenario as training camp opened was that Mattison would be the lead back (1A) and Ty Chandler and Kene Nwangwu would battle for the job as the 1B running back.
But during the Vikings’ 2-4 start little has gone as expected and the running back situation is one of them. The Vikings are 30th in the NFL in rushing, averaging 75 yards per game, and they join the Pittsburgh Steelers as one of two teams without a rushing touchdown this season.
So what’s gone wrong?