It’s fantasy football drafting month! Wahoo!
We already know that if you have a mid first-round pick, drafting Vikings running back Dalvin Cook is probably a good idea.
If you do draft Cook, drafting his backup, Alexander Mattison, is also probably a good idea.
Sosa Kremenjas over at Pro Football Focus ranked the top-five running back handcuffs in the league and Mattison ranked third.
Here’s what Kremenjas wrote about Mattison:
Mattison is the quintessential handcuff back, as his current workload in an RB2 role is quite minimal. But his potential volume as a starter would be astronomical within the run-first Vikings offense. In 2019, Mattison totaled 110 touches for 70.4 total points, which placed him at RB60.
Cook has missed 19 games in the first three seasons of his career, so there’s a world in which Mattison carries a big load in Minnesota — albeit that’d be not-so-great for the Vikings.
With all the players you could take fliers on late in your fantasy draft, drafting Mattison is a smart move and could pay off in a big way.
