The Minnesota Vikings could be in the process of letting go of one of the key pieces of their offence in the coming weeks following news regarding running back Dalvin Cook.
The Minnesota Vikings might go down as the biggest disappointment of this past NFL season. In the early and middle part of the season, they had the look of a team that could very well go on to win the whole thing, as they went toe-to-toe with the Philadelphia Eagles at the top of the NFC.
But some bizarre results down the stretch combined with a playoff loss at home to the New York Giants meant that they had to spend the last few weeks of the season watching the games play out at home. Perhaps most disappointing was the lack of a run game, where the Vikings ranked 27th in terms of rushing yards (via ProFootballReference).
The one man you can’t blame that on though was Dalvin Cook, who has become one of the top running backs in the NFL over the past few years, rushing for over 1,000 yards in each of the past three seasons, including a remarkable 2020 season in which he came 2nd in both yards with 1,551 and rushing touchdowns with 16 and this year came out with another 1,000-yard campaign with 1,173 yards and 8 touchdowns (via ProFootballReference).
And it seems as though there are some teams out there that want to make use of that.
Minnesota Vikings set for a different look without Dalvin Cook?
According to reporter Darren Wolfson, who was speaking on Mackey and Judd (quoted by SI.com) there is already a team out there that has submitted an offer in order to try and get the Vikings’ attention:
I did hear that there is an offer in on Dalvin Cook. So if they wanted to trade Dalvin Cook, there is an interested team. You look at the running back market, there’s not a whole lot there, depending on what you think of Miles Sanders. David Montgomery is OK. Alexander Mattison is OK.
Should the Vikings be cooking with Dalvin next season?
As the SI column points out “Cook’s cap hit currently sits at $14.1 million. If the Vikings cut or trade him before June 1, they’d save roughly $8 million against the cap. If they wait until after June 1, they’d save about $9 million. With the Vikings currently about $15 million over the cap, that’s a big number to digest without ditching it or restructuring his deal.”
So you could see why a deal would be beneficial to them, especially if they want to tweak the roster and look to take another step forward in 2023, but after the year that he had, it’s clear to see what Cook isn’t the problem with the team, and getting rid of him would be a step backwards in terms of offensive production.
They would be better off getting some cheap depth at the position, either a veteran free agent, or in the later rounds of the draft to give him some rest so that he can be more explosive when he is on the field.