With Dalvin Cook departing, where does the Vikings' run game go from here? (2024)

They desperately want to run the football effectively.

Yes, the Minnesota Vikings, who are parting ways with four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook, are unabashed about their commitment to the run game.

Skeptical? Especially in light of Thursday’s news?

Well, listen to what coach Kevin O’Connell had to say at the NFL Scouting Combine in March.

“A main goal of mine is to have some improvement in our running game,” O’Connell, a former quarterback and also the team’s play caller, said.

A month later at the league meetings, O’Connell doubled down, stating, “We’ve got to run the football.”

His reasoning is fairly simple. If the Vikings are more efficient on the ground, O’Connell believes it will be easier to move the ball through the air. Consistently achieving favorable downs and distances will give the offense more flexibility. For example, an offense basically has to pass on third-and-9. But faced with a third-and-2, the options are seemingly endless. The burden is also lighter on the quarterback and offensive line on third-and-2.

“If we can run the football more efficiently and marry the run and the pass with play-pass keepers and screens and different variations of the passing game on our terms,” O’Connell said, “I think that’s going to bode well for teams that want to feature so much coverage to (superstar receiver) Justin (Jefferson).”

The why makes sense, but the how has always been uncertain. Minnesota’s rushing attack ranked 28th in the NFL in 2022, according to Football Outsider’s DVOA metric. Additionally, the Vikings tallied the highest percentage of runs for zero or negative yards of any team in the NFL.

Parting with Cook, who turns 28 in August and has started 73 NFL games, only amplifies the precariousness of what the Vikings are attempting.

Minnesota’s plan begins with its offensive front. All five of the team’s starting linemen from 2022 return this season. Six of the team’s seven backups from last year remain, too.

“The continuity up front is a huge plus,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said this week. “Depth and continuity for another year are huge.”

Last year, Pro Football Focus graded the Vikings’ run-blocking unit as the fourth-best in the NFL. Certain advanced metrics paint a different picture, however. In 2022, Vikings running backs averaged 1.26 yards before contact per carry, which was 25th in the league. With starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw on the field, they averaged 1.47 yards before contact per carry, which would be 21st.

Numbers aside, right tackle Brian O’Neill and center Garrett Bradbury spoke recently about the importance of continuity in their second seasons working with offensive line coach Chris Kuper and assistant offensive line coach Justin Rascati.

“The more reps you have together as an O-line,” Bradbury said, “the better you are. Experience matters a lot in the offensive line room.”

The Vikings’ staff has evaluated its overall running scheme as well. This dates back to Week 14 of last 2022, when the Vikings ran for just 22 yards on 17 carries against the Detroit Lions.

Following that game, Phillips said he wasn’t in favor of “a full revamp of the run game,” but that the team was trying to “narrow down” what it felt it had been good at. PFF tracks run-concept data, and here are the overall results from 2022:

Three statistics stand out: the Vikings’ commitment to the outside-zone concept, their lack of success on inside-zone runs and the potential upside that may exist in power runs, where fullback C.J. Ham is utilized.

In OTA sessions open to media members this spring, the Vikings have toggled with pullers even at guard, which may indicate a continued allegiance to the man plays, often referred to as gap-scheme runs.

When asked generally this week about the rushing attack, Phillips again cited a culling of the run concepts.

“We worked really hard, as all teams and coaches do, trying to narrow things down,” Phillips said, “including limiting some of the schemes that we said, ‘This is fluff, this is extra, let’s get rid of this, let’s focus on these concepts.’”

The players operating those concepts — the running backs — matter a great deal. Alexander Mattison, a third-round pick in 2019, is the clear candidate to see the majority of snaps. Though his success rate on rushing attempts ranked second among 59 running backs with at least 70 carries in 2022, Mattison also had the third-highest percentage of runs of zero or negative yards among those 59 backs.

The two most viable backups are Ty Chandler and Kene Nwangwu. Chandler, who despite being older than Mattison (25) is entering his second season, had just six carries in 2022, all coming in garbage time of the Week 18 matchup against the Chicago Bears. Chandler has the necessary speed. He ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at the combine. He is about 10 pounds lighter than Mattison, though, which may affect his ultimate three-down potential. Nwangwu, meanwhile, was a fourth-round pick in 2021 whose skill set also lends itself more to the change-of-pace style.

If there is a sleeper in the group, it’s rookie DeWayne McBride, whom the Vikings took in the seventh round of this year’s draft. UAB did not ask much of him from a receiving or blocking standpoint in college, but McBride is a naturally gifted runner who topped all draft-eligible running backs in yards after contact per attempt (4.3).

RB DeWayne McBride (@Debo323232) has signed his rookie contract.

All 6 #Vikings 2023 draft picks are now under contract.

📰: https://t.co/molkFBlF5i pic.twitter.com/cNudc8iOgO

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 6, 2023

So as the depth chart currently stands, the Vikings will be replacing Cook with a group of unproven backs who have limited pro production but plenty of potential. The success of that group will hinge largely on the blocking, which depends on both the offensive linemen and the schematic plan. This was always going to be the case in the aftermath of 2022. The running game was that unproductive.

If anything, Cook’s departure is a distilling of sorts. It might not feel like a wise move on the surface, but it will emphasize all the variables that matter as the offense strives for rushing efficiency.

(Photo of Alexander Mattison: David Berding / Getty Images)

Alec Lewis is a staff writer covering the Minnesota Vikings for The Athletic. He grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and has written for Yahoo, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Kansas City Star, among many other places. Follow Alec on Twitter @alec_lewis