How The Backfield Will Fare Without Dalvin Cook
Henrique Gucciardi
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On Thursday, the Vikings finally put an end to the Dalvin Cook saga, stating that he would be released the next day. They gave this 24-hour window to see if any team would like to secure Cook’s services by trade instead of competing for him in the open market, but no trade was made. Cook’s agents and the Vikings’ front office couldn’t agree on a pay cut, so Kwesi Adofo-Mensah chose to let the 27-year-old running back go.
Dalvin Cook will go down as one of the best Minnesota Vikings running backs of all time, finishing 3rd in rushing yards, 4th in rushing touchdowns, and 2nd in rush yards per game. In his six seasons in purple, he had 7787 all-purpose yards, 52 total touchdowns, and earned 4 Pro Bowl nods. Even after a down year, Cook was still a good and explosive player, so we can’t say that he won’t be missed.
But saying that Cook will be missed is different to saying that he can’t be replaced. The team may not have one running back as skilled as Dalvin Cook, but the other running backs complement each other very well, giving the Vikings a pretty sound backfield.
Barring an injury or something crazy happening during training camp, Alexander Mattison will be the new starter. Mattison is a very interesting player, as he is entering his 5th year in the NFL but he’s the 2nd youngest player in the backfield. He has only 404 total carries in his career, just 55 more than what Derrick Henry had in 2022.
Mattison is a veteran with “fresh” legs, can catch the ball (70 catches and 526 yards), and is still young. He is in a prime position to lead the backfield in 2023 and 2024 and his contract is very team friendly, with cap hits of $2.4 and $4.6 million. He’s a well-rounded player that will now have the chance to prove himself as RB1. As I said, Mattison can do enough of everything but it’s a good thing that the rest of the Vikings’ running backs have different skill sets.
Ty Chandler, who was drafted last year, showed a great ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and he’s very explosive when he hits the open field. Kene Nwangwu is one of the most explosive players on this team, but I think his role will continue to be as the kickoff returner. We may see him with the offense sometimes but, in my opinion, Chandler and DeWayne McBride will have more snaps.
Speaking of McBride, the 7th-round rookie will also have the opportunity to be on the field. He may lack Chandler and Nwangwu’s explosiveness and speed, but he’s a great runner on his own. Very powerful, has great balance, and vision to see the running lanes. He wasn’t much of a pass catcher in college, but I believe that he can do a good job when the team is close to the endzone and/or in short-yardage situations.
There’s also the possibility that Adofo-Mensah uses part of the $9 million gained by cutting Dalvin Cook to bring another player to the backfield. There are some intriguing names out there, like Zeke Elliott, Kareem Hunt, Kenyan Drake, Royce Freeman, and others.
Losing Cook’s abilities and leadership is not ideal, but Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell made sure to build an incredible locker room culture with great leaders, and, with an improved running scheme, we may see a better running game even without a star running back.
