Image courtesy of Vikings.com
Dalvin Cook has had the attention of Vikings fans since day one in Minnesota. However, an ACL tear in his rookie season and the subsequent hamstring issues, from said ACL injury, in his sophomore season, has kept him out of the top running back conversation in the NFL. Now in his third season, Cook is finally healthy and getting the stats necessary to be considered an elite back and because of that, some are saying that he is the best back in the league. He may be the best back in the NFL, but he has some stiff competition, so let’s run through the top backs to see where Cook ranks.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it is the most common names I personally see coming up in the conversation this season.
Ezekial Elliott, Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys star is not the oldest back on this list, that honor goes to Leonard Fournette, but he does have the most experience. The former Ohio State product has had his issues off the field, but has helped carry the Cowboys into the playoffs in two of his first three seasons. The Cowboys are also currently leading a rather weak NFC East this season.
Through seven games, Elliott has 602 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns, and an average of 4.5 yards per carry. Elliott hasn’t done a ton in the pass game, but he still has added 176 receiving yards for a total of 778 yards from scrimmage.
There’s no doubt that Elliott is still a great player and can carry the load as a feature back. In his three seasons, he has hit 2000 total yards once, but he was only six yards short in his rookie season. He also has 40 total touchdowns, 34 rushing and 6 receiving. The hype for Elliott has died down a bit since his rookie season, especially with his suspension shortened sophomore year, but he’s still an elite threat that can go off at any point.
Leonard Fournette, Jacksonville Jaguars
Fournette may be the least versatile back on this list. He’s a great runner of the football and can pick up yards in bunches on the ground, but his inability to finish drives and find the endzone is concerning.
In his 2019 campaign so far, Fournette has 715 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, and 5.0 yards per carry. He also has added 203 yards receiving, but no receiving touchdowns. For his career, Fournette has 17 total touchdowns, 15 rushing and two receiving, and less than 3000 total yards from scrimmage. However, he also has yet to play a full season due to injuries, and a one game suspension, and this season he is on pace to cruise for over 1600 yards rushing.
Fournette is certainly an intriguing back with tons of upside, but we have yet to see him put a full season together and live up to his status as a top five pick. His ability to rack up yards is great, but he needs to finish drives and score points for a Jacksonville team that has issues doing just that. However, Vikings fans know that the blame for that may just fall as much on offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.
Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
Barkley is the youngest man in this discussion, but he may also have one of the best claims. Touted by some as the best running back prospect since Adrian Peterson, Barkley is being used as a cornerstone in a New York Giants rebuild. The 2018 AP Rookie of The Year, Barkley has been every bit as good as promised, when he’s on the field.
Barkley has only played in four games this season due to an ankle injury, and missed the Giants matchup against the Vikings in week five. In his four games played, Barkley has amassed 309 yards rushing, two rushing touchdowns, and 82 receiving yards. He also has the highest yards per carry of these backs at 5.6.
It’s tough to say if Barkley is the best back in the NFL this season because of his missing time, but he certainly has a strong case if you include last season where he led the league in yards from scrimmage with 2028 total yards. Saquon has an opportunity similar to what Adrian Peterson had in Minnesota, he could be the face of the franchise and one of the NFL’s best for a decade or more. That is of course if he can stay healthy.
Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints
Kamara is the first of two players on this list who may actually be better receiving the ball than running from the backfield. The New Orleans Saints have a knack for finding and developing offensive talent and Kamara is no exception. Taken in the third round, Kamara is the lowest drafted player on this list.
In this 2019 season, Kamara has 373 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, and the lowest yards per carry at 4.3. However, in the passing game he has 276 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown for a total of 649 yards from scrimmage and two total touchdowns.
Kamara has also been dealing with injuries this season, his first being the feature back in the Saints offense without Mark Ingram, and was inactive for last week’s game at Chicago. That’s truly Kamara’s biggest question mark, does he have the ability and stamina to be the top back in an NFL offense? So far, he has not lived up to that. However, he is extremely dynamic and when healthy can create matchup problems in the passing game.
Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers
Son of former NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey, it makes sense that Christian McCaffrey is one of the most talented receiving backs in the NFL. In fact, he’s often thought of as a receiver who is listed as a running back, but his performance over last season and this one, gives him a claim to being the top running back in the league.
So far this season, McCaffrey has the third most rushing yards, 618, in the league behind only Cook and Fournette. However, that is only because McCaffrey has played one less game than the other two. The Panthers new star also has the most total touchdowns of anybody on this short list with nine, seven rushing and two receiving.
Sure, McCaffrey benefits from being the main focus in a Carolina Panthers offense that is missing their star quarterback and former NFL MVP Cam Newton. However, that makes what McCaffrey, and many more on this list, do so special. The defense is fully focused on stopping these guys and they still can’t.
The Case For Cook
What Dalvin Cook has done for the Minnesota Vikings offense this year is nothing short of incredible. Of the seven games Minnesota has played this year, Cook has only been under 100 rushing yards twice, hit 150 rushing yards twice, and had over 200 yards from scrimmage once.
When you consider Cook’s injury history, it’s not difficult to see why he hasn’t been in the conversation of NFL’s best until now. His stats have not been up to snuff the past two seasons due to his injuries. However, now in his third season he is currently leading the league in rushing yards with 725, and leading the league in rushing touchdowns with eight. Cook is barely beating out McCaffrey for rushing yards per game as well with 103.6 compared to McCaffrey’s 103.0.
It’s not just what Cook does on the ground though, he also has 220 receiving yards. That’s third on this list behind McCaffrey and Kamara. Cook has yet to score on a reception this year, but his eight scores on the ground still put him just behind McCaffrey in total touchdowns. The effectiveness of Cook’s running has also led to a breakout season from Kirk Cousins who is finding tons of time and space to throw by running play action.
Of course there are faults with Cook’s game too. He did have two games where he went for less than 50 rushing yards and less than 100 total yards. One of those games being a bad loss to chicago in week four. He also is not always the best in pass protection and can miss a block or two. Finally, since this is Cook’s first season of being truly healthy, we don’t know if his success is sustainable or if a nagging injury will show up and keep him from being the NFL’s best.
Final Verdict
As a homer, I really want to say that Cook is the NFL’s best back, but there’s so much to consider and it’s such a tough call. First, I’ll eliminate those that I don’t see as really deserving to be in the conversation at the moment.
Leonard Fournette, the NFL’s best needs to be able to put up points and Fournette has had issues doing that. Whether it’s his fault or not, he needs to start finishing drives and if that takes getting in DeFillipo’s face to give him the rock and finish the thing, so be it. That is of course if Fournette can keep himself one the field for a full season.
Alvin Kamara, I really think Kamara presents problems for NFL defenses. Sean Payton has been able to get him into space and burn opposing defenses. Vikings fans have witnessed this first hand when he ends up matched-up with Eric Kendricks or Anthony Barr. However, he hasn’t shown the ability to be a true number one guy yet and he’s more a threat as a pass catcher than a back.
That leaves us with Elliott, Barkley, McCaffrey, and Cook. The space between these four players is so small that it makes it really tough to make a decision. All except McCaffrey have missed time for one thing or another over the past few years. Elliott’s being non-injury related makes it less concerning for on field performance,. Barkley did play a full season last year and went over 2000 yards from scrimmage, but missing time this season is really hurting his case. McCaffrey really has shown to be an amazing dual-threat, but can he stand up to a full season of running the ball? He’s already over half the amount of carries he had last season. Then there’s our own Dalvin Cook. We love him and his game film is incredible. He is probably my favorite pure runner in this list, even accounting for hometown bias, but he’s also the most injury-prone player here. My final ranking is this:
I’m not ready to crown Cook as the NFL’s best running back just yet. If he plays the entire year and maintains his pace, he’ll probably jump Elliott and maybe McCaffrey. The thing that needs to be understood is that because of his injury history and a couple of poor performances I’m holding him back. However, in my heart he is the greatest player on this list and truly to the eye test he passes with flying colors.