With the way Dalvin Cook played in 2020, he was a bargain for the Vikings.
He rushed for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2019, which were career highs for him. He is set to earn $1.3 million in the final year of his rookie contract.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Cook and Minnesota have been in productive talks about a deal. However, nothing is close at this time, per Fowler.
Will be a big few months for RBs from ‘17 draft class trying to bolster position. Vikings’ Dalvin Cook and Bengals’ Joe Mixon have had productive talks with their teams about new deals, I’m told, though nothing is close at this time. Saints value Alvin Kamara. Others waiting, too pic.twitter.com/s6VfTKj9x9
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) May 18, 2020
Though Cook is clearly a very good running back, the decision to extend him or not isn’t a simple one.
He has been injury prone throughout his early NFL career, and teams have been burned in the past when giving running backs large deals. However, letting Cook walk means the Vikings will move on without a large portion of its offense.
Cook has missed 19 games due to injury so far, but when he’s on the field, the Vikings’ offense is more effective. It will be interesting to see what happens down the road.