Fantasy Football Player Notes

There were six running backs who totaled at least 20 carries against the Packers last year. The only one who scored fewer than 16.4 PPR points was Adrian Peterson, who still tallied 76 yards and a touchdown. Cook was one of the running backs who crushed him when he ripped off 154 yards and a touchdown in their Week 2 meeting. That set the tone for the season with the Packers, as they allowed a massive 4.86 yards per carry on the season, which ranked as the fourth most in the league, behind only the Panthers, Jaguars, and Browns. The Packers have to be expecting a run-heavy attack from the Vikings, though that didn't seem to matter last year. Among the nine running backs who totaled at least 15 carries against them last year, none of them averaged less than 3.80 yards per carry, and six of them scored at least one rushing touchdown. This tells us that Cook's floor is extremely high in the matchup. Prior to his injury he suffered in Week 11, Cook had tallied at least 20 carries in 7-of-10 games. That's not even factoring in his receiving upside, which is obviously high in Cousins' first game without Stefon Diggs. Cook should be started as a high-end RB1 and can be placed in cash game lineups as one of the true gamescript-proof running backs.

Mattison was fantastic when called upon last year, but let's not pretend he was getting nearly enough touches to be relied upon in a fantasy lineup. With Cook healthy, there were just three games all season where he saw double-digit carries, and the Vikings won each of those games by double-digits. I don't see that happening this week, making Mattison an RB4/5-type option.