Vikings’ Alexander Mattison Fantasy Football Trade Value | Should You Trade for Mattison?
The sixth week of the NFL season has now come and gone, and it’s time to start analyzing everything that happened.
While perusing the target, touch, snap and redzone leaders, one running back stood out to me, Minnesota Vikings’ Alexander Mattison. In the team’s first game without star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, Mattison finished with 22 touches, which tied for the fourth most in the league this past week.
Mattison was a drop candidate early in the season, but now I’m wondering if he’s a player you should be targeting in a trade. Let’s discuss.
Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.
Mattison’s 22-Touch Day
Mattison and the Vikings took on the Chicago Bears in week 6. Chicago currently has one of the worst defenses when it comes to slowing opposing running backs, allowing an average of 28 fantasy points a contest. The Bears’ defense is actually inside the top 10 in terms of rushing yards allowed, but allows the most receiving yards to backs.
Mattison didn’t star against Chicago, he simply was utilized early and often, and that’s what I’m most focused on.
The running back rushed 18 times for 44 yards and caught four of the seven passes thrown his way for an additional 28 yards. Mattison’s 22 touches came on just 45 snaps, so essentially he touched the ball on every other play he was in - and if you factor in the targets he didn’t catch, he was ball carrier or intended pass catcher on over half the team’s plays.
Mattison’s Usage and Fantasy Outlook
Mattison has at least 10 touches in every contest this season, but the amount of touches hasn’t been all that consistent.
The Vikings’ back had 14 touches in the season opener before 11 in week 2. Mattison jumped way up to 25 touches in week 3, which was his most productive game of the season. He then dropped down to 18 touches in week 4 before a season-low 10 touches in week 5.
Mattison hasn’t been gaining a ton of yardage on his touches, with a season high of 5.4 yards a touch, but the simple fact that he’s getting so many looks is what I’m looking at as a fantasy owner.
Of course, fantasy owners were curious as to what player or players on Minnesota would be more involved with the offense with Jefferson out. Mattison was the answer to that question against the Bears.
Mattison played as many snaps as tight end T.J. Hockenson, who finished with six catches on eight targets. Receivers K.J. Osborn and Jordan Addison played 53 and 49 snaps, respectively, but only had seven catches on 10 targets combined. Wideout Brandon Powell was the only other skill player over three touches, catching three of four passes thrown his way.
Mattison might not get 20+ touches a game on average, especially if he can’t produce more yardage or big plays, but there aren’t many other players on the team who are going to average a ton of looks either.
Cam Akers was the only other running back to play against Chicago, and he was on the field for just nine snaps. He finished with one rush and one catch on as many targets. There simply isn’t a guy currently on the roster who is threatening to take Mattison’s snaps or touches away, so I believe now is the time to try trading for Mattison.
Before we dive into a possible trade, let’s take a look at the upcoming schedule for Minnesota. The Vikings will take on the San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers twice, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, Bears, Los Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals and Lions twice before the season wraps up.
The Bengals and 49ers are a touch better than average. The Falcons, Saints and Lions are all inside the top five against the run. Detroit currently has the best run defense, but one of those two games against Minnesota will come in week 18, and your league likely holds its championship in week 17. If your team does play in week 18, the way things are looking now, Detroit might not be playing too many starters with a playoff spot already locked up.
Should You Trade for Mattison?
Now, I’m not saying that trading for Mattison will guarantee you a spot in your league’s title game, but you aren’t going to find too many cheaper workhorse backs out there.
It’s hard to find backs that are getting double-digit touches consistently, and I’m more likely to start a running back with those kinds of numbers instead of a player in a committee and hoping for a big play or touchdown. That’s why I like trading for Mattison right now.
You’d like to see Mattison doing more with his touches, but then his asking price in a trade would be much higher. Mattison has the 13th-most touches among backs right now, but likely will climb that ladder as Jefferson misses a few weeks, and possibly the rest of the season.
His lack of fantasy points has him currently ranked 20th among running backs in FantasySP’s player ratings. That puts him in the same ballpark as Houston Texans’ Dameon Pierce, Los Angeles Rams’ Kyren Williams, New England Patriots Rhamondre Stevenson and Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Jones.
Maybe you would rather keep all your running backs and trade away another position. Mattison is ranked 40th overall. Some interesting names around him include Miami Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, Carolina Panthers’ Adam Thielen and Pittsburgh Steelers’ George Pickens.
Would you rather trade away a couple depth pieces instead? Scroll through the player ratings and see what you can come up with.
Whatever your case might be, I’d try to swing a deal now, instead of waiting for a big performance or two from Mattison. His price is low now, but he’s a guy you can start just about every week the rest of the season, as his big workload will help offset some of the lower production he might have. Good luck!
