5 Landing Spots for Dalvin Cook
Dalvin Cook remains a free agent in July, some four months into the process.
5 Landing Spots for Dalvin Cook
The veteran tailback has hinted all offseason his desire to continue playing and will turn 29 next month.
Cook might have a season or two left in the tank, though his 2023 showings in New York and Baltimore were less than desirable. On the whole, if some team takes the plunge with Cook, he’d likely latch onto a roster as an RB3.
These are Cook’s top five landing spots, ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = most probable landing spot).
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
At this juncture of the summer, heading into training camp, nearly every NFL team has excellent, decent, or passable running back depth. The only team with suspect depth lives at No. 1 on this list.
So, yes, the Jaguars employ Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby, and D’Ernest Johnson. That’s more than enough oomph for the regular season. However, Cook is from Florida, and Jacksonville could give Cook a look at training camp for an RB3 or RB4 gig.
4. New Orleans Saints
Oodles of former Vikings coaches from the Dalvin Cook era currently work in New Orleans: Klint Kubiak, Andrew Janocko, and Rick Dennison. Those men are intimately familiar with the fancy parts of Cook’s prime, and if something happened to Alvin Kamara or Kendre Miller, New Orleans could pick up the phone for a call to Cook’s agent.
New Orleans ranked 10th per rushing DVOA in 2023.
3. San Francisco 49ers
The only knock whatsoever on Christian McCaffrey is injury, and adding Cook to this team would hedge the bet on that what-if. San Francisco also employs Elijah Moore and rookie Isaac Guerendo, but Cook could nestle in around RB4.
Plus, the 49ers are honest-to-goodness Super Bowl contenders, and Cook should probably continue chasing rings before he hangs it up.
2. Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are not Super Bowl contenders like the 49ers, but Kennedy Polamulu is Seattle’s running backs coach and worked with Cook for five years in Minnesota.
Seattle’s RB depth is a bit thin after Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
1. Dallas Cowboys
These are the Cowboys halfbacks in July:
- Ezekiel Elliott
- Rico Dowdle
- Royce Freeman
- Deuce Vaughn
- Malik Davis
- Snoop Conner
- Nathaniel Peat
An uninspiring group, Cook could instantly wiggle onto the depth chart as WR3. His former skipper, Mike Zimmer, is Dallas’ defensive coordinator. While Elliott-Dowdle-Cook won’t scare opposing defenses, it might be a better trio than Elliott-Dowdle-Freeman.
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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