The 2023 NFL season was supposed to be the year of Alexander Mattison’s breakout season as the leading back of the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, his disappointing season has led him to battle for touches behind Zamir White with the Las Vegas Raiders entering 2024.
Does Mattison have enough standalone value or handcuff upside to warrant a roster spot on your fantasy football team this year?
Should You Draft Alexander Mattison in 2024?
When the Vikings decided to part ways with veteran back Dalvin Cook ahead of the 2023 season, fantasy managers were understandably optimistic about Mattison’s role expanding.
Fantasy managers were correct in this assumption, with Mattison seeing a career-high 210 total touches last year, but the fantasy results were mostly horrific.
Mattison’s 892 total yards, 30 receptions, and three scores produced a disappointing RB38 overall finish in full-PPR formats. This promptly led to the Vikings releasing Mattison this offseason and him joining the Raiders in free agency.
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Perhaps no stat better represents Mattison’s disappointing fantasy campaign than his nine carries from inside the 5-yard line in 2023, which resulted in -7 rushing yards and zero scores. For some additional context, Mattison was the only player in the league to see six or more carries from inside the 5-yard line and fail to score a single touchdown. Yikes.
Zamir White appears to be comfortably penciled in as the starting running back in Las Vegas entering the 2024 season, which makes Mattison’s fantasy outlook incredibly bleak this year.
Do I think Mattison is a terrible football player? No, I don’t. Yet, I have no faith that he is anything more than a subpar veteran option who can occasionally contribute to an NFL offense in anything more than a complementary fashion.
This makes Mattison someone who is essentially off of my fantasy board entering the 2024 NFL season.
Mattison’s ADP at No. 253 overall as the RB66 off the board tells us he is not currently being selected in the overwhelming number of fantasy football drafts. He is currently lumped in with players like D’Onta Foreman, Dameon Pierce, and Kenneth Gainwell as backs buried on the depth chart who aren’t expected to have significant roles in their respective offenses in 2024.
It’s really unfortunate that a player coming off of a career year in rushing yards and receptions is virtually nothing more than a fantasy afterthought in the minds of managers. Yet, Mattison’s disappointing 2023 campaign leaves us with very little hope that he would be an impact player even if White were to go down with an injury.
Mattison simply wasn’t productive enough in a leading role in a competent offense to suggest he has any standalone value in subpar offense while working in a complementary role.
Mattison has the build of a potential short-yardage back, but he was terrible in short-yardage situations last year. I don’t see him getting White off the field on this part of the field.
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Mattison doesn’t have elite pass-catching skills, which means he is a weaker option than rookie Dylan Laube in a third-down role.
This begs the question… What exactly is Mattison’s role in this Raiders’ offense?
Since I can’t definitively answer this question, I don’t recommend him for your fantasy football team in 2024.
White proved capable of handling a workload, so the Raiders weren’t overly aggressive in addressing the position during the offseason. The lack of stability under center naturally creates a low floor for everyone in this offense, and when you combine that with no path (barring an injury) to meaningful work, you have yourself a player better left on waivers.
Instead of gambling on a backup RB with talent and situation question marks, why not invest in the offenses that we know will move the ball?
Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Insights on Alexander Mattison
Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Keaton Mitchell aren’t likely to be involved from the jump, but should they find themselves moving up the depth chart, valuable carries are more likely to follow than with Mattison.
You could make a similar case for rookies Isaac Guerendo and Will Shipley. We’ve seen Mattison struggle at the NFL level, and at this point in fantasy drafts, I’d rather take an unknown quantity than one that has no proof of belonging despite having the opportunities.
Mattison will be a must-add in-season if White goes down because there isn’t much in the way of depth at the RB position on this roster. That’s exactly what he is. Add him if he fits in your build and has a role in his grasp, but there’s no need to cut in line and get exposure to Mattison before that.
Use your late picks on players who will have the opportunity to show you something early in the season and cycle through options until you land on some upside. Mattison isn’t that.