Dalvin Cook is staying away from the Vikings until he receives a “reasonable” offer for his next contract. His exact demands are unclear, but sources tell ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin that Cook is seeking something in the range of $15MM per year.
[RELATED: Dalvin Cook To Wage Holdout]
Cook’s representatives opened talks by pitching the Vikings on a ~$16MM/year deal, roughly matching the record-breaking extension signed by Panthers star Christian McCaffrey. Cook’s camp has dialed that number back, but there’s still a significant gap between the two sides.
Cook has indicated that he won’t show up for work unless he gets the multi-year deal he’s seeking, but he can’t play the game of chicken for too long. Per the new collective bargaining agreement, players must report by the start of training camp in order to receive that year of credit towards free agency. Previously, that deadline was set at 30 days before the start of the regular season. Simply put, if Cook doesn’t show up for the start of camp, he won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency until after the 2021 season.
Last year, Cook ran for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also added another 519 yards through the air, giving him more than 1,600 all-purpose yards on the year. Those totals would have been much higher if not for a late-season chest injury. For now, Cook is set to earn a base salary of $1.33MM in 2020 and he wants to lock down a larger payday – ideally, with the Vikings.
“I definitely love Minnesota,” the 24-year-old (25 in August) said recently. “I love everything the state has to bring. Being a kid, I was drafted (in 2017) from Miami (his hometown), so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I actually am happy where I’m at, and I would like to be in Minnesota long term.”
With the ability to find good young running backs I think any team locking that much money up is taking an unnecessary risk
As a Viking fan, trade him. He has a couple good years left but the shelf life doesn’t warrant the money when Alexander is already there and you have mortgaged franchise on scared to make a throw cousins.
Let’em sit then. 1,100 yards is roughly 70 per game. Sorry but that’s not elite numbers.
Well if you back out the 2 games he missed, he averaged 81 yards rushing a game which was good for 7th overall. However if you factor in his receiving yards, he was second in nfl for average yards from scrimmage per game at 118. That number is ahead of Zeke, Barkley, Kamara, Henry, Chubb, etc. Not sure what you are looking for to be classified as elite.
Now deciding to pay an rb once that first contract ends is usually fools errand so I do agree from that side but not sure you can classify Cook as not putting up elite numbers when on the field.
Right, he’s elite when healthy…..he hasn’t been healthy consistently
That’s a really reductive and bad way to evaluate Cook’s talent. He’s one of the best backs in the league.
If he wants that…let him go. I won’t ever argue for billionaires over millionaires but it also comes from a negotiating standpoint. You haven’t been around for a lot of your career. Maximize your earning potential but maybe when you have that ability. I don’t believe the Vikes have the money to give him. I really think people need to look at what happened to Melvin Gordon. He had much more production and ended up with 5M a year. Play out the year and go get your money.
“Maximize your earning potential but maybe when you have that ability”
As a running back in football, he probably only has a few more years to do this. In other words, he’s doing exactly what you’re telling him to do, but you’re weirdly chastising him for doing so.
He’s not in a leverage position at all. mattison had almost 500 yards on 100 carries. That and a Cook has been injured. Play out your contract and get paid. Otherwise this rolls over another year. Way to pick out one sentence though.
He absolutely is in a leverage position and it’s because his pay is so low due to being a second round pick. He’s making just over a million dollars next season. He could sit out the entire year and make way more on the open market next year. Why risk injury and decline and wear and tear if he could get even $5 million in 2021, which is 4x as much as he’ll make in 2020?
He has almost no reason to play next year. Melvin Gordon, whom Cook is better than, got $16 million over two years. There’s zero reason to suit up for $1.33 million. Sit out, stay healthy, make way more (relatively speaking) next season.
I understand your argument, but bear in mind Cook won’t be an unrestricted free agent unless he participates with Minnesota this season. Thus, he’s essentially in limbo for the time being
Okay, but he would still be able to receive offers from other teams as a RFA, so it would then be up to the Vikes to say whether they want to outbid teams or not. Cook wins either way.
We’ve been seeing RB’s use this tactic for years. Doesn’t surprise anyone! His contract is owned by the Vikes. Let him sit. No play, no pay. Forever how long it takes! There’s signable backs out there
Dalvin is one of my favorite players on the Vikings but I can’t see him getting more than 12m. Incredible talent just can’t stay on the field. I think he’ll hold out of training camp but he’ll report. I don’t blame him for wanting to avoid camp considering the pandemic.
I was thinking 13 would get it done but I’m sure the Vikings are wanting ten. This guy could be your future. Give him 48/4 and then go from there. Watch the tape. He can be a CMC style player if they need him to be but he is better between the tackles. Yes he is a injury risk but it’s not worth letting him walk if he is this good on the field.
Why? He can’t be a type of player if he isn’t like him at all. One is available, the other isn’t. And as I said above, Mattison filled in just fine.
I’m talking all purpose yards. Him and CMC are similar. And are you willing to save 7-10 million on betting Mattison can play a whole season and get the same results as Cook? Because if not then bye bye playoffs. This team is close. Why ruin that?
Because they likely can’t afford 15M a year. So yes, as far as building a team I believe they’d be more likely to do well with Mattison and other backs than a guy who will miss games. Mattison was a rookie and performed well because that position is replaceable. This while playing less than 30% of snaps. Dumping Cook makes more sense than committing 15M a year to him considering he doesn’t even average 16 games a year. Injuries get worse as time goes, not better.
Le’Veon Bell and Melvin Gordon will be joined shortly by Dalvin Cook. Cook isn’t a top 5 back. I would take CMC, Barkley, Elliott, Chubb and Kamara over Cook. And even then, Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon and Aaron Jones are all solid backs. Cook is a top 10 RB, but I would put him behind at least 5 others in the league. Think about how different the “top 5 list” was just 3 years ago. You don’t give big $$ to top RBs.
Bell got himself just under 30 million guaranteed by his holdout. Gordon was the complelte opposite and screwed himself. Those situations are not the same and neither will be Cook’s.
Bell missed out on earnings in 2018, could have been either $14MM (franchise tag) or $20MM for that one season… he sat it out, like a moron… turned down the steelers offer for $70 million over five years and then settled on the Jets for $52.5 million over 4 years. He missed on guaranteed money and the 2018 season. He overvalued himself (like Gordon and Cook) and lost out on money and prime years.
LOL imagine thinking the Steelers offer had 70 million guaranteed. All the clowns who cry about lockouts dont know how NFL contracts work. What if Bell had 1 bad play and got hurt? The franchise tag is much less than the Jets contract. You stink at economics
Bell was on a franchise tag and knew he was going to be gone. Cook is under contract. It would just roll over to next year. And holding out didn’t help Gordon, as you said. And that’s what Cook is looking at right now. To lose money by holding out.
For the record, I would also like $15 mil/year….
Just in case anybody is hiring.
$15 million for an RB? Lol bye Felicia. Ain’t gonna happen. Especially not with his injury history. Dude literally had one above average season and he thinks he’s the most valuable RB in NFL history lol. Give your head a shake.
Vikings’ Brass should have anticipated this kind ocf contractual issue with Cook and drafted a RB this year.
Or maybe they could have used one of their 4 7th round picks in the Cook draft of 2017 to grab Chris Carson.
Not show? oh yea that would show them, just ask Melvin Gordon how that turned out.
He’s replaceable that $15 mil can be put to much better use than on a rb. Wouldn’t extend him at any rate rookie contract rbs are the way to go
$15 million?? The only team dumb enough to pay a back that kind of $$$ is Jerra “ Nose Picker “ Jones , and his own back just suckered him. Good luck.
Who’s out there as a young free agent rb