Why the Dalvin Cook Rumor Mill Dried Up
The Minnesota Vikings ended the Dalvin Cook era on June 9th, releasing the longtime running back via cap-saving maneuver and enabling him to sign anywhere in the NFL.
But nothing has happened with Cook in free agency — yet.
Why the Dalvin Cook Rumor Mill Dried Up
Indeed, the Cook rumor mill swarmed for about three months, with the Miami Dolphins always front and center, chiefly because of a geographical connection. Cook is from Miami, and folks evidently believe that’s a good enough lure for his first-time free agency.
With training camp less than three weeks away for NFL teams, though, the Cook rumor mill has seemed to evaporate. It hit a pause button.
Why? Well, Cook is in no rush to find his next employer. For unknown reasons, the Vikings didn’t release Cook until early in the summer, so he missed all of 2023 free agency — at least the meaningful team-building aspect. An RB-hungry team could’ve pounced on the four-time Pro Bowler in March, but he remained a Vikings employee at the time.
Now, he’s waiting until the start of training camp or after to sign on some team’s dotted line. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero told The Rich Eisen Show last week that Cook was pondering ‘multiple offers,’ is waiting for a ‘lucrative’ deal, and wouldn’t start the serious search until late July.
And that’s 3-4 weeks away.
Cook’s suitors remain plentiful, at least in theory. The Dolphins lead the way per experts’ predictions, along with the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, and Dallas Cowboys in the mix as ideal fits.
Last week, former NFL executive Scott Pioli joined Good Morning Football to shed light on the reasoning behind Cook’s patience, “At this point in time in the year, there’s a lot of teams that have blown through their cash commitments for the year. And as crazy as it sounds, when you look at players like Dalvin Cook, it’s going to cost a lot of money, it’s going to cost a lot of cash. D Hop is going to cost a lot of cash, so it comes down to the situation of where the cap is.”
Pioli was the Kansas City Chiefs general manager from 2009 to 2012.
“There’s also this other thing. Any time that you do a deal, it takes both sides. And right now, veteran players that are in situations like this, sometimes what they want to do is they want to sit tight. They want to put themselves in the best situation, get the best deal, the best situation, the best circumstance. Veteran players don’t like training camp, so they may just be sitting tight. And a team can only do a deal if a player wants to get a deal,” he added.
The moral of the story? Cook is in no rush to dive head-first into training camp and can maximize his pocketbook during or after the event. He’s also likely waiting to see how contract situations involving Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, and Tony Pollard materialize. Their dealings on teams’ franchise tags should paint a clear picture of Cook’s 2023 monetary value.
Cook turns 28 next month.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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