The Vikings Are a Year Away From Being Thin at Running Back
K. Joudry
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Currently, the Vikings are one of the deepest teams at running back.
Dalvin Cook, Alexander Mattison, Kene Nwangwu, and Ty Chandler offer a lot of skill and upside. Now toss in C.J. Ham, someone capable of creating room for other skill players and occasionally getting a few touches. Minnesota, quite evidently, has made it a priority to build up their backfield.
In fact, the Vikings currently have the third-largest cap hit devoted to running back & full back. A whopping $18.9 million comes in below just the Cowboys and Titans. Cook, of course, is the main reason why since he’s carrying nearly $12 million into the 2022 budget. Ham, though, tacks on nearly $3.5 million and Mattison’s salary has topped $1.1 million (a bargain, all things considered).
Here’s the thing, though: Mattison will be a free agent in 2023, and there’s very little guarantee Ham and Cook will be brought back. If cut, Ham will leave behind just $750,000 in dead money while giving Minnesota more than $3 million in space. Meanwhile, cutting Cook means saving nearly $8 million in cap space, though he would leave behind a reasonably large dead money hit if the Vikings move on.
What I’m trying to suggest, then, is that Minnesota could very reasonably enter 2023 without the main three we’ll see in the backfield. Cook, Mattison, and Ham may all be playing elsewhere, leaving only Nwangwu and Chandler as options.
At this stage, neither have shown very much to suggest they’re capable of being NFL RBs. Chandler, of course, was just drafted, so it’s entirely plausible that he could be an excellent option. Nwangwu, moreover, is merely a sophomore. He did a tremendous job on special teams, and one wonders if he would have gotten more chance on offense if he didn’t need to overcome an early injury.
The point remains, though, that the Vikings likely are cognizant of their running back situation. They were proactive by drafting Chandler, and it’s possible they seek to give Nwangwu more opportunity to further his development. At this stage, my best guess is that they look to extend Mattison, who is only 24. Moving on from Cook and Ham next season may then allow for resources to be devoted to more important positions as the Vikings get younger at RB.
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