How do Alexander Mattison and Zamir White complement each other?

Diving into the numbers behind the Raiders two lead running backs

After having Josh Jacobs take the lion’s share of snaps in the backfield over the last five seasons, the Las Vegas Raiders are pivoting to a running back by committee approach in 2024 now that Jacobs is with the Green Bay Packers.

That leaves Zamir White and recent free-agent signing Alexander Mattison at the top of the depth chart to split the touches out of the backfield for the Raiders next season. So, how do White and Mattison complement each other?

Running Style

White is much more of a downhill runner and is best on gap runs. He’s not a back who should be asked to be patient in the backfield, read the defense to find the opening and move laterally to hit the hole. Instead, he’s best when there’s a defined gap to run through so he can put his shoulders down and move linearly.

That’s how the Raiders have primarily used the Georgia product during his career as over 50 percent of his carries have been on gap runs, according to Pro Football Focus. Also, the style mentioned above is reflected in his yards after contact per attempt (YCO/A) as he’s posted a solid number of 3.22 during his career.

Meanwhile, Mattison has been used significantly more in zone schemes with 420 career carries on such runs compared to 153 gap touches. Additionally, he doesn’t have the power to tack on extra yards after contact that White has with a career average of 2.85 YCO/A. However, the former Viking is better at making defenders miss than his new teammate.

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White has only forced 17 missed tackles during his 121 carries over the last two seasons, which comes out a little more than a 14.0 percent rate. Mattison has 129 MTF on 590 attempts, or a rate of about 21.9 percent, nearly eight points higher than the former.

All this being said part of the reason why Mattison’s playing time and touches dwindled toward the end of last season is that he isn’t good at executing outside zone concepts. He’s fine on inside zone runs, but he struggles to make the correct read quickly on those stretch runs, which is something S&BP’s Marcus Johnson noticed.

So, while the free-agent signing has experience in a zone-heavy scheme, the film suggests he might be best as a more downhill runner, similar to White, which throws a wrench into how they complement each other as rushers.

Receiving

Last season, White did show growth as a pass-catcher with 15 grabs on 17 targets for 98 yards, but he’s never been known for his receiving skills and still wasn’t much more than a checkdown option in 2023. For example, he had an average depth of target (ADOT) at 0.2 yards overall while only being thrown two screens and recording an ADOT of 2.0 yards on 10 targets past the line of scrimmage.

Mattison was more involved in Minnesota’s passing game last year with 42 targets, 30 catches, 192 yards and three touchdowns. Granted, his overall ADOT (0.8 yards) was similar to White’s, but that’s partially because the Vikings involved the back in the screen game more often with 10 targets on such passes.

Also, Mattison was more utilized in the downfield passing attack with an ADOT of about 3.5 yards on targets past the line scrimmage, highlighted by one 47-yard catch on a deep target.

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However, the Boise State product has had issues with drops over the past couple of years. In 2022, he let two passes slip through his hands at an 11.8 percent rate and the latter was tied for the eighth-highest among running backs with at least 18 targets. The problem got worse this past season as his six drops and 16.7 percent drop rate were tied for the second-most at the position.

So, while Mattison might be a more dynamic pass-catcher than White, this role will likely go to Ameer Abdullah, who has been targeted 55 times for 44 catches, 342 yards and a touchdown with an ADOT of 2.9 yards over the last two seasons.

Pass Protection

Pass protection is where the Raiders’ backfield gets interesting.

While White hasn’t allowed a single pressure during his NFL career, he’s only been asked to block 21 times, meaning the sample size isn’t big enough to suggest that production is or isn’t sustainable. Also, PFF gave him a 46.4 pass-blocking grade on 18 reps last season, and he gave up eight pressures with grades of 19.5 and 40.1 on 22 and 29 snaps in pass protection during his final two years at Georgia.

In other words, White isn’t good and is unproven in this area of the game.

Mattison has had more success in the past, only allowing five pressures and earning at least decent grades from 2020 to 2022. However, last season he recorded a career-high 82 snaps in pass protection — his previous high was 45 — and struggled with nine pressures allowed, including four sacks.

The former Viking’s pressures surrendered were tied for the ninth-most among running backs and the sack figure was tied for the most. That resulted in a 49.5 grade which ranked in the bottom 25 at his position.

On a similar note, Abdullah was a great pass-protector during the beginning of his career but has fallen off since moving to Las Vegas. He’s given up 14 pressures (three sacks) and earned pass-blocking grades of 29.8 and 17.7 during his two seasons with the Silver and Black.

So, this might be an area that the Raiders’ backfield is still lacking unless either Mattison or Abdullah revert to their previous forms.