Linked to the Cowboys at multiple junctures over the past several months, Dalvin Cook is finally on track to join the team. Dallas is adding the former Minnesota Pro Bowler, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports.
Cook worked out for the Cowboys earlier this week, and while DLLS Sports’ Clarence Hill notes the team eyed the eighth-year RB on the practice squad, this union will nevertheless commence. Veterans who join teams late in the summer or during the season regularly latch on via P-squad agreements — with eventual promotions to follow. This is indeed a P-squad agreement, per ESPN.com’s Todd Archer, with the Cowboys will see how Cook looks in Mike McCarthy‘s scheme soon.
While this will also reunite Cook with longtime Vikings HC Mike Zimmer, the new Cowboys DC will not exactly be overseeing him this time around. Cook, 29, arrived during Zimmer’s Minnesota tenure and played five seasons for the since-fired leader. He joins a running back room that seemed short-staffed on cutdown day.
Dallas let Tony Pollard walk after a moderately disappointing season — at least compared to his 2022 Pro Bowl campaign — and the five-year Cowboys contributor scored a three-year Titans deal. The Cowboys were linked to Texas prospect Jonathon Brooks ahead of Day 2, but not only did the team not end up with the former Bijan Robinson Longhorns backup, it stood down altogether in the draft. This preceded a reunion with Ezekiel Elliott, who is still counting as dead money on Dallas’ payroll from the post-June 1 cut the team made in 2023. Elliott is certainly past his prime, but as of now, the former rushing champion is slated to lead Dallas’ RB committee.
If Elliott is past his prime, it is safe to say Cook is as well. Riding four straight 1,100-yard rushing seasons going into his Jets stay, the former second-round pick struggled as the team’s Breece Hall bridge and completed by far his worst season. The Jets ended up cutting Cook, who finished the campaign as a Ravens reserve. Cook averaged just 3.2 yards per carry as a Jet (67/214); he had never dropped below 4.4 in a season with the Vikings.
The Cowboys were still linked to Cook between his Jets and Ravens tenures, and they resurfaced on this radar in March. Both Cook and Elliott were interested in joining the team; the club went with familiarity at that point. Elliott’s 2,421 career touches lead all active running backs, but Cook’s 1,585 sit fifth on that list. That said, Elliott fared better than Cook in 2023. The one-and-done Patriot accumulated 955 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns, playing initially as Rhamondre Stevenson‘s backup and then returning to a starting role once the Pats’ RB1 went down late in the season.
Dallas also rosters 2023 Pollard backup Rico Dowdle, who has been with the team for five years, and kept diminutive former sixth-rounder Deuce Vaughn as its third-stringer. Cook stands to compete for playing time in this Elliott-led committee, with this potentially being the four-time Pro Bowler’s last shot at a regular RB gig.
Last year, the Cowboys steadily evaluated Martavis Bryant on their practice squad. That did not produce any game action. Given the state of Dallas’ RB room and Cook not being a special case like Bryant — who has not played a regular-season game since 2018 — would point to a P-squad stay being shorter. If Cook is not bumped up to the Cowboys’ 53-man roster early in the season, it would be indicative of the talented ball-carrier deemed too far past his peak.
Cook was believed to have scheduled an additional workout, per Machota, and Hill floated the Colts as the other team showing interest. Indianapolis’ backup situation is thin post-Zack Moss, with ex-49ers washout Trey Sermon in position to be Jonathan Taylor‘s top reserve. But the Cowboys will cut off any route elsewhere, giving the once-dynamic back another shot.
