In June, the Minnesota Vikings released four-time Pro Bowl RB Dalvin Cook. He’s now a member of the New York Jets. Stepping up for a bigger workload this season is Alexander Mattison. The 25-year-old had been Cook’s backup for the last four seasons.
Mattison has made six career starts in 59 games played for the Vikings. To ensure their backfield has some kind of depth this season, Minnesota is signing Myles Gaskin to their roster. He was cut less than 24 hours ago by the Miami Dolphins. It didn’t take long for the 26-year-old to find a new home for the 2023 season.
Myles Gaskin will play for the Minnesota Vikings this season
RB Myles Gaskin, released yesterday by the Dolphins, is signing today with the Vikings active roster, per source. Agents Drew Rosenhaus and Ryan Matha confirmed the deal with Minnesota, where Gaskin now will be reuniting with his former HC Brian Flores, the Vikings’ DC.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 30, 2023
As a rookie for the Dolphins in 2019, Myles Gaskin played in seven games and made zero starts. In 2020, he played in 10 games and made seven starts for Miami. He had 584 rushing and 388 receiving yards and five total touchdowns. Gaskin’s 2021 season was another solid year for the Dolphins, playing in all 17 games and making 10 starts.
He had 612 rushing and 234 receiving yards in the 2021 season. To start 2022, Gaskin fell to second in the depth chart behind RB Raheem Mostert. On top of that, Miami made an in-season trade for former 49ers RB Jeff Wilson. That put Gaskin at third on the depth chart. Gaskin had just 26 rushing and 28 receiving yards for the entire 2022 season, playing in only four games.
Update: #Vikings are signing former #Dolphins RB Myles Gaskin, per @AdamSchefterhttps://t.co/4yChX52hBn pic.twitter.com/tZtuvHW1Rv
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 30, 2023
Over his four-year career, Myles Gaski has proved that he’s an elusive RB when he gets playing time. His 2020 and 2021 campaigns were the best two seasons of his time in the NBA so far. This year, he’ll get a chance to be the RB2 behind Alexander Mattison, a player who’s still relatively unproven in the NFL.
Mattison has primarily been a backup throughout his career. Minnesota didn’t make any drastic moves to improve their backfield and they feel that Mattison can replace Dalvin Cook’s workload. Adding Myles Gaskin after he was cut was a bonus for the Vikings. Otherwise, they’d have Ty Chandler and Kene Nwangwu as Mattison’s backups. Gaskin at least has played some meaningful snaps in the NFL.
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