The uncertainty of the offseason came to a head on Thursday with reports that the Minnesota Vikings are expected to release four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook. By releasing the former 2017 second-round pick, Minnesota saves $9 million in cap space while incurring a $5.1 million dead cap for their 2023 books.
Throughout Cook’s tenure in Minnesota, he’s been somewhat of an endangered species. As more and more teams pivot to cost-effective options at running back and/or divvying up their running-game workload by way of committee, Cook has served as one of the last true workhorses in the National Football League. After injury-riddled seasons in 2017 and 2018, Cook eclipsed 280-plus touches in each of the past four seasons, which included three of four with 300-plus touches. For context, fellow (former) workhorse Ezekiel Elliott hasn’t surpassed 300 touches since 2019. And Elliott suffered the same fate as Cook with the Dallas Cowboys a few months prior.
Along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had Rashard Mendenhall, Le’Veon Bell, and Najee Harris carrying the load since 2009, the Minnesota Vikings have been zigging with bell cow running backs. They had future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson and Cook when a vast majority of the league zagged with committee backfields. Over the past 15 seasons, Peterson and Cook combined for 10 seasons where they eclipsed 280 touches with the Vikings. That’s pretty remarkable considering the sheer attrition expected at the position.
With Cook’s departure, the entire philosophy of the Vikings having a workhorse running back might go as well.
Is Cook’s presume successor, Alexander Mattison, capable of handling such a massive workload? It seems highly unlikely after he managed only 4.3 yards per touch when given a career-high 166 touches in 2021. Instead of asking Mattison to replace Cook, it might be best to look back on what Kevin O’Connell, Sean McVay, and the Los Angeles Rams did with their running back room once former All-Pro running back Todd Gurley was released following the 2019 season.
In 2020, the Rams still went 10-6 and won a playoff game after experiencing a drastic shift to their backfield. Instead of relying solely on Gurley, McVay and O’Connell essentially spread his entire workload across three different running backs.
Here’s how the Rams allocated their backfield touches in their first season without Gurley:
- Malcom Brown
- 124 touches
- 4.7 yards per touch
- 581 yards
- 5 touchdowns
- Darrell Henderson
- 154 touches
- 5.1 yards per touch
- 783 yards
- 6 touchdowns
- Cam Akers
- 156 touches
- 4.8 yards per touch
- 748 yards
- 3 touchdowns
The following year, Akers was expected to take on a bigger role. But an Achilles tear in July cost him his entire season before returning for the Rams’ Super Bowl run. So McVay and O’Connell again reverted to their committee approach during the regular season.
- Sony Michel
- 229 touches
- 4.2 yards per touch
- 973 yards
- 5 touchdowns
- Darrell Henderson
- 178 touches
- 4.9 yards per touch
- 864 yards
- 8 touchdowns
While this isn’t exactly the type of forecast that folks with Mattison on their 2023 fantasy football teams are looking for, a committee approach seems like the most logical way for this Vikings’ backfield in Cook’s absence. With the way Minnesota has spent Day 3 capital on Kene Nwangwu, Ty Chandler, and DeWayne McBride in three consecutive NFL Drafts — along with re-signing Mattison to a modest two-year, $7 million extension this offseason — this has all the makings of the Vikings leaving the days of the bell-cow running back in the rearview.
Although the expectation should be that Mattison receives most of the workload, it might be farfetched to think he’ll approach a Cook-like allocation of 280-ish touches as the lead back. Especially when you consider that the Vikings figure to remain near the top of the league in passing volume this coming season.
Committee backfields have taken the league by storm over the past handful of years — much to the chagrin of fantasy football players. Since 2017, the past six Super Bowl champions had their leading running back average 195 touches in their respective championship season. And three of those six Super Bowl winners featured lead running backs who didn’t even reach 185 touches.
- ’22 Kansas City Chiefs: Isiah Pacheco had 183 touches
- ’19 Kansas City Chiefs: Damien Williams had 141 touches
- ’17 Philadelphia Eagles: LeGarrette Blount had 181 touches
The days of force-feeding a single running back in an NFL offense are near extinction. And the Vikings were one of the last remaining organizations to make a concerted effort to do so with Peterson and Cook. That’s not to say that O’Connell will completely abandon his running game without Cook. But it will sure look a lot different by leaning on the hot hand and maximizing the skillsets of each back by giving them touches that allow them to play to their strengths, both on the ground and through the air.
O’Connell reached the pinnacle of football with McVay by implementing a committee backfield that served as an accessory to his pass-heavy offense with the Rams. And that approach is likely here to stay in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.
