Running back Dalvin Cook fell to the 41st pick in the 2017 NFL Draft due to some off-the-field concerns.
Three years later, there’s no doubting that Cook belonged in the in the first round.
In Adam Rank’s 2017 re-draft, he has Cook going 19th overall to the Bucs. Here’s what Rank wrote about that pick:
The Bucs went into this draft with a huge need at running back, and it’s one they have still yet to address three years later (notwithstanding the attempt to do so via Ronald Jones). Selecting Cook takes care of this problem. I was in the NFL Network newsroom when this draft was going down, and the Bucs fans in attendance were going mad, hoping that the Florida State kid was going to end up in Tampa. He did not. Well, at least not until now.
Since joining the Vikings, Cook has missed 19 games. That’s the bad.
The good is that when Cook has been on the field, he’s been electric, afveraging 72.6 rushing yards and 31.5 receiving yards per game. In 2019, he was named to the Pro Bowl team after rushing for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns in just 14 games. He also caught 53 passes for 519 yards.
If Cook had gone earlier, the Vikings would have had to look elsewhere for what would end up being the focal point of their offense.