Alexander Mattison (RB, MIN) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: It took a long summer, but we're finally enjoying Alexander Mattison performing on a Pro backfield at the NFL level. At least to the extent Dalvin Cook's monster production allows him to. As a newcomer, the rookie already has been handed the ball 25 times. Higher-drafted players such as Jordan Howard and Kenyan Drake have 27 or fewer attempts. Mattison is clearly out-performing all of them and then some.

While we're not talking about someone in a situation such as that of Austin Ekeler (backup turned starter due to Melvin Gordon's holdout) or Royce Freeman (in a 50/50 committee with Phillip Lindsay), the upside of Mattison is as big as it gets. Mattison's backfield partner, Cook, could suffer re-injury and his workload this season might be putting him at risk. Cook already has 57 rush attempts in three games. It took him six games to reach that mark in 2018 after he came back two different times from injuries. The red lights could be this close to turning on.

The most encouraging aspect about Mattison is that even in short playing time he has already shown he belongs. He has put up 49, 25, and 58 yards rushing on nine, four, and his season-highest 12 carries. In three weeks, he has finished with 4.9, 2.5 and a good 11.8 PPR points respectively, scoring his first touchdown against Oakland in Week 3. He hasn't been targeted through the air, though, but that should be expected while being part of a Vikings offense that is passing as little as possible. Dalvin Cook just has 10 targets himself and he's been tossed the ball one yard behind the LOS on average.

Although Mattison may not be much more than a good stash at this point, the concerns about Cook's health will always be there and it looks to me that having Mattison on your roster won't do any harm. More than that, Minnesota will face two tough defenses against the run in the next three weeks (Chicago in Week 4 and Philadelphia in Week 6), but other than those two matchups they'll play below-average ones until their Week 15 matchup against the Chargers. Consider Mattison a "suicide-flex" option for now in deep leagues, but believe that he can turn into an RB1 any of these weeks if anything happens with Cook.