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Ezekiel Elliott, the highest-paid running back in NFL history, was the third-best running back on the field at AT&T Stadium Sunday night.
For fans, the Vikings’ 28-24 stiff-arming of Elliott’s Cowboys was thrilling. For Dalvin Cook’s agents, it was a three-hour, 33-touch PowerPoint presentation they’ll no doubt use when it comes time to butt heads with Vikings salary cap guru Rob Brzezinski. And for the many NFL teams leery of overpaying running backs, Vikings rookie Alexander Mattison was another fresh-legged example of the position’s many younger, cheaper and still high-quality laborers.
Monday, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was asked whether there was much drop off between Cook, the best back in football, and Mattison, who ran the ball eight times for 52 yards and a game-high 6.5-yard average.
“No,” he said, “[Mattison] is a good player. He runs hard, he’s physical. I think he averaged six-something, maybe.
“He can take some of the carries off Dalvin. I like the way he finishes runs. He seems like he’s always falling forward and is an aggressive-style runner.
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-coach...564829562/
Zimmer said Mattison’s ability to break tackles is better than expected.
“He was a good player [at Boise State], but you don’t really know,” Zimmer said. “I think his ability to hit the hole and then the violence he runs with … he doesn’t go down easy and doesn’t go out of bounds.”
As the last pick of the third round, Mattison is making $495,000 this season. Two of his predecessors as Vikings backups are Jerick McKinnon and Latavius Murray, who are ranked seventh and 17th among running backs in average annual salary at $7.5 million and $3.6 million, respectively.
Mattison’s yardage total is more than the No. 1 rusher in Arizona, Atlanta, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami and the Chargers. And no other No. 2 back can match the combination of Mattison’s yardage total and average per carry.
Fellow rookie third-rounder Devin Singletary of Buffalo has a 6.4-yard average but fewer yards (309). Five other No. 2 backs also have a better average but fewer than 288 yards.
Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Tevin Coleman is the only No. 2 back with more yards (395). But he has a 4.3 average.
“Yeah,” Zimmer said of Mattison, “he’s a good back. And we’re glad we have him.”
The way the Vikes are using him is a perfect compliment to Dalvin. That #3 pick is looking like a steal right now.
I remember worrying a bit about what the Vikes are going to do when they decided not to resign Murray; not anymore. B)
It's funny that the selection of Mattison caused the most uproar during the draft... and now we're talking about how he should be getting more touches behind the NFL's leading rusher.
Although a little surprising, I did like the pick during the draft. I did/do like Boone, but with the durability fears around Cook it seemed like a good idea to bolster the stable. Mattison has been better than anyone could have expected.
Quote: @"Wetlander" said:
It's funny that the selection of Mattison caused the most uproar during the draft... and now we're talking about how he should be getting more touches behind the NFL's leading rusher.
The uproar was simply over Ruck trading down a bunch in a premium Round only to take a Player that the consensus said would be there in the 4th. In theory, which is only what post-draft analysis is, Rick could have snagged someone who was falling and still picked Mattison later.
It's all about projection and far from an exact science. In hindsight, you take Mattison with the original 3rd now that you've seen the production. But then Rick wouldn't have had all those 7ths.
I'm not a fan of his draft approach but I also don't argue against the results. He's got an uncanny ability to hit on those low picks. It defies the percentages but it works. It's just hard to watch him trade down year after year and pass on higher rated players to accumulate late round picks. Again, it works. But it's hard to watch.
I remember when they showed the Vikings draft room when they drafted him and the Viking RB coach was pounding the table when they took him. I didn't get the pick at the time, but I was thinking that they seemed sure he was a great pick, so they must have known something about him that not a lot of other teams did.
https://www.vikings.com/video/alexander-...eady-to-go
I read post-draft pundits when giving out grades for last year's draft significantly downgrade the Vikings because of the Mattison pick, which is so stupid and right on brand for draft geek. They theorize he'd still be there in the next round, but its IMPOSSIBLE to know that definitively. But they spent a 3rd and are getting not only great production per snap played but the implicit value he'd provide if Cook went down.
The Draft is such a huge industry now that some of these guys take themselves SO seriously.
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