Minnesota’s running back corps seemed set for 2020 — until it came out that Dalvin Cook will reportedly be refraining from any team-related activities until he receives a “reasonable” deal, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Cook holding out complicates things for a plethora of reasons. The Vikings were a team in 2019 that loved to run the ball. Minnesota lost its offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski this offseason after Stefanski became head coach of the Browns.
The team replaced him with Gary Kubiak, who was the Vikings’ offensive advisor in 2019. Based on Kubiak’s offensive history, it seems likely that Minnesota’s scheme will be more or less the same to what it was in 2019. That means the team will still have to rely on running the ball, so hopefully Cook is in the mix.
Here are three reasons why the Vikings should keep Cook around: