Vikings running back Alexander Mattison isn’t going to be a starter as long as Dalvin Cook is around. But Mattison thinks he can be part of something special, along with Cook and the rest of the running backs who make the Vikings’ roster.
Mattison said the Vikings’ running backs room can be the best in football, and they hold each other to a high standard of performance to reach that level.
“I love it,” Mattison said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “It’s awesome to have a good group of guys that we can all push one another. We’re going to learn from one another. That skill set everybody brings to the running back room, it’s very unique. And we don’t like to say we have the best back in the league or the best one-two punch in the league, we want to have the best group in the league. So we hold that standard in the room.”
Cook is the unquestioned starter, but he said he likes to see the depth behind him.
“Having that depth and having that next guy up ready to go, next-guy-up mentality, and to have the guys ready to go produce, that’s always important,” Cook said.
Vikings running back Kene Nwangwu had 13 carries for 61 yards last season, and he’ll compete with rookie fifth-round pick Ty Chandler for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart behind Cook and Mattison, in a running back group they think can be the best in football.
