The Minnesota Vikings find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Running back Dalvin Cook wants a new contract. While Cook is a huge part of the team’s offense, we also know it’s not super smart to pay running backs big money.
Need proof?
Take a look at the running backs with the biggest cap hits from the 2019 season and how they performed:
All contract information courtesy of Spotrac:
David Johnson – Cardinals, $9.65 million
After running for 1,239 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2016, things haven’t been great for Johnson. Johnson ran for just 345 yards and two touchdowns last season to go with 36 catches for 370 yards. His 3.7 yards per attempt is downright miserable.
He’ll get a fresh start in Houston in 2020, but the three-year, $39 million deal with $32 million guaranteed he signed with the Cardinals was a mistake.
Todd Gurley – Rams, $9.2 million
Another player who will be on a new team in 2020.
Gurley ran for a career-low 857 yards last season at just 3.8 yards per attempt. The problem with Gurley has been his knees, which is obviously super concerning since he’s only 25 years old.
We’ll see if he can turn things around in Atlanta this season where he’s on a one-year, $5.5 million deal.
Le’Veon Bell – Jets, $8.9 million
After missing all of 2018 waiting for a new contract, Bell’s return to the league wasn’t ideal. In his first season with the Jets, Bell ran for 789 yards and averaged just 3.2 yards per carry.
His 1,250 yards from scrimmage was the lowest mark of his career outside of the 2015 season when he played just six games.
Leonard Fournette – Jaguars, $7.4 milion
Fournette is still on his rookie deal, but when you draft a player fourth-overall, this is the contract you get. There’s been talk about Fournette being traded, and it’s not because of his skillset. In 2019, Fournette ran for 1,152 yards (4.2 ypc) and three touchdowns to go with 76 catches for 522 yards. Not great numbers, but solid. It’s just hard to justify that cap hit.
Lamar Miller – Texans, $7.2 million
Miller missed the whole 2019 season after tearing his ACL. That wasn’t great timing considering it was the last year of a four-year, $26 million deal.
Miller was fine the three years before that, averaging right around 978 yards per season while averaging 4.1 yards per carry.
Miller is still an unrestricted free agent.