Alexander Mattison Fantasy Football Outlook Makes Him Great Dalvin Cook Handcuff

Fantasy football is much more than drafting the best players and just rolling on from there. One aspect that every fantasy manager must nail is the strategy of stashing premiere handcuffs. It's never a bad idea to reach for those kind of players late in drafts rather than bye-week-filler-type options.

Alexander Mattison is a great example as he becomes an immediate starter if Dalvin Cook was to go down. In fact, he racked up 175 total yards and 2 touchdowns during his two starts last season. He enters the fall as a must-draft player for fantasy managers targeting Cook in the early rounds.

Alexander Mattison Fantasy Outlook

Mattison hasn't been amazing during his time in Minnesota, but he has done everything the Vikings have asked him to. He has rushed for at least 430 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons and scored 3 touchdowns in 2020. The 23-year-old ball-carrier averages a solid 4.6 yards per carry as well.

It's important to point out that Cook has missed two games in each of the last two seasons, which opens the door for Mattison to put up some numbers. The Vikings have proven they are not afraid to give the backup RB 20-plus carries if he needs to take on a bigger workload as a starter.

Mattison's current average draft position is No. 139 overall and No. 47 amongst RBs, according to FantasyPros. He can basically be drafted for free and has a lot more upside than other handcuff RB options do. Simply put, Mattison could be a league-winner if Cook was to miss a large amount of time.

The former Boise State standout is not going to give FLEX value every week, but Mattison remains a perfect stash candidate to keep on the bench just in case. He checks in at No. 137 (RB51) in The Duel's 2021 fantasy football rankings.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.