Running Back 23 – Alexander Mattison MIN
A. Mattison is set for a career year with the departure of Dalvin Cook. The Vikings have a powerful offense and although Mattison could be the fourth best playmaker on his team, he is without question the best running back (RB). Mattison set a career high in touchdowns (TD) with six, but had career lows in almost every other statistic. It is summed up best with 89 touches and 374 yards. That was last year though, and his volume is guaranteed to go up. The Vikings will not have the best defense and it will force pressure on their offense to control the ball and put up points.
Mattison’s is currently RB 25-30 off the board, and that seems appropriate. It was higher earlier in the draft season, but is cooling off as RBs set into markets. A week 13 bye week means he will not be there for that final regular season push into the playoffs, but Mattison should not be your RB1. Not even in the so called ‘Zero-RB’ philosophy. He is appropriately placed but with so little tape and statistics in Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense it’s difficult to say where Mattison will finish. He could be top ten, or in the forties, but a fringe RB2/3 seems appropriately valued.

Linebacker 23 – Drue Tranquill KC
Drue Tranquill has joined the defending Superbowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. He had an outstanding season last year, finishing as the 7th linebacker (LB) in FF7s format. How is it that he goes to a better team, with a better Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator yet drop in rankings? Put simply he won’t be the best player on his team, nor the best LB. He should still have a great year, and playing behind Chris Jones is a massive advantage. He finished with career best in every metric except fumble recoveries. 17 games played, 16 started, 146 combined tackles, 5 sacks, 8 QB hits, 10 tackles for loss, and 4 passes defended. Although Nick Bolton will have command of the LBs, Tranquill will make several plays, and should finish as a LB 2.
He is familiar with the division, which will be a bonus even with new coaches and players. His years of practice against his former team, the Los Angeles Chargers, will be beneficial as those two should be the best in the division. Draft Tranquill and expect to have a steady floor with spike weeks of sacks and high volume tackling. He had seven games with over 10 tackles, including all three weeks of the fantasy football playoffs (weeks 15-17) where he also earned 2 sacks and a forced fumble.

Thank you for reading Mano y Mano. Check in tomorrow for RB & LB #22.
Bet Smart, Be Lucky – Iggy

*Stats come from FantasyPros, Pro Football Reference, Sleeper, and NFL/Next Gen.
*Rankings are based on .5 PPR format and FF7s.