Cooked? - Dalvin Cook Released (now a Jet!)

Cook is popular among his teammates and made crucial plays throughout the season. He ripped off an 80-yard run in Minnesota’s upset of the Buffalo Bills, and his 64-yard screen play helped them come back against the Indianapolis Colts. He wants to stay; it’s just a matter of if it makes sense from a cap perspective. Adofo-Mensah probably would not have signed Cook to a five-year, $63 million extension. But that’s the difference between the Vikings’ new and old general managers. Rick Spielman was a super-scout who wanted to keep his draft picks who panned out. Adofo-Mensah is more of a CEO with a Wall Street background. He knows that it’s inefficient to pay running backs but also that it’s wise for him to spend to the cap.

The Vikings could cut Cook post-June 1 and save more money against the cap. But what are they spending cap space on at this point? They already restructured Kirk Cousins to become cap compliant at the end of the league year. They cut Thielen and Kendricks and traded Za’Darius Smith for what they could get. Harrison Smith and Hicks took pay cuts. Jordan Addison and DeWayne McBride should sign soon. It’s hard to believe they’ll land an impact player at this point in the offseason. So they should spend to the cap limit, even if Cook’s contract is inefficient.

It looked like Cook’s days were numbered when the Vikings re-signed Alexander Mattison. But Cook and Mattison have played together before, and teams are wise to have multiple viable running backs, given the amount of stress their bodies endure on Sundays. Minnesota offloaded Za’Darius Smith for little in return, but he was an unhappy player. Cook isn’t as productive as he once was, but he’s still capable of making a big play. And on a team where the offense will have to carry them again next season, that’s still valuable – even if the Vikings are paying too much for it.