Dalvin Cook would like to get a contract extension and says he’s not showing up for any team activities until he gets one. But I don’t think it’s something that the Vikings are too worried about.
The team is willing to give him a new deal; there have been discussions. And in this case, Minnesota has most of the leverage.
Cook is entering the final season of his rookie contract, but in order to be eligible for free agency next spring, he must show up for the start of training camp. That’s a change under the new CBA: if a player doesn’t show up for camp, he doesn’t get credit for a full year of service – so Cook would then not become a free agent until 2022. That’s a big advantage in favor of the team.
The Vikings also already have another good back in place. Alexander Mattison ran for 462 yards last year, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt. When he was on the field, he looked pretty similar to Cook. The presence of Mattison gives the Vikings a lot more ability to move on without Cook if they feel the price is getting too high – as the Steelers did when they had James Conner ready to fill in when they couldn’t sign LeVeon Bell.
Earlier in the offseason, Christian McCaffrey signed a four-year extension worth $64 million, with $38 million guaranteed. Cook would like to get a deal like that, but I don’t think he’s going to get it. Not with Mattison there, and not with Cook having had injury issues in each of his first three seasons.
The coronavirus pandemic might also be somewhat of a factor here, with the potential for missed games, potentially causing the cap to decrease in 2021. Those kind of issues probably have Cook and his agent more eager to cut a deal and get money in his pocket.
Three other running backs are in this same boat: Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon and James Conner. All were drafted after the first round in 2017, so all will be free agents next spring. All have done enough to merit contract extensions. But teams in general are leery of giving big contracts to players at that position, especially with some of the big recent contracts not aging well (with Gurley and Bell leading the way). At this position, it’s generally preferred to have guys on rookie contracts, then discard them after you’ve extracted the best ball out of them.
I expect this is one that will be worked out. Even so, Mattison to me looks like one of the best “handcuff” running backs in the league. I imagine Cook probably will miss some games at some point, and Mattison might put up top-5 running back numbers while filling in.
I have skimmed through the 32 rosters. In my eyes, there are about 19 true backup running backs. In a typical fantasy draft, I would expect Mattison to be about the 3rd of those players to be drafted. I rank those 19 backups this way. I’ve put a black dot in front of guys where I’m not quite as certain that they’ll open the season as a backup running back (maybe their team brings in a free agent or somebody else wins the No. 2 job in August).
The numbers shown are the rushing stats from last year.
| RANKING THE HANDCUFF RUNNING BACKS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 43 | 179 | 4.2 | 2 |
| Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 224 | 1011 | 4.5 | 7 |
| Alexander Mattison, Min. | 100 | 462 | 4.6 | 1 |
| Latavius Murray, N.O. | 146 | 637 | 4.4 | 5 |
| Chase Edmonds, Ariz. | 60 | 303 | 5.1 | 4 |
| Carlos Hyde, Sea. | 245 | 1070 | 4.4 | 6 |
| Benny Snell, Pitt. | 108 | 426 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Justin Jackson, LAC | 29 | 200 | 6.9 | 0 |
| Duke Johnson, Hou. | 83 | 410 | 4.9 | 2 |
| Tevin Coleman, S.F. | 137 | 544 | 4.0 | 6 |
| • KeShawn Vaughn, T.B. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Zack Moss, Buff. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 86 | 455 | 5.3 | 2 |
| • Darrynton Evans, Ten. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| • Ryquell Armstead, Jac. | 35 | 108 | 3.1 | 0 |
| • Giovani Bernard, Cin. | 53 | 170 | 3.2 | 0 |
| • Reggie Bonnafon, Car. | 16 | 116 | 7.3 | 1 |
| Frank Gore, NYJ | 166 | 599 | 3.6 | 2 |
| • Wayne Gallman, NYG | 29 | 110 | 3.8 | 2 |
Some teams don’t have a clear backup. I expect some of these teams would use a committee approach if their starter got hurt.
| TEAMS WITHOUT A CLEAN BACKUP RUNNING BACK | |
|---|---|
| Team | Situation |
| Atlanta | Committee of backups |
| Baltimore | Edwards or Dobbins |
| Chicago | Cohen or somebody |
| Detroit | Committee backfield |
| Green Bay | J.Williams or Dillon |
| Indianapolis | Committee backfield |
| Kansas City | Committee backfield |
| LA Rams | Unsettled backfield |
| Miami | Unsettled backfield |
| New England | Burkhead or D.Harris |
| Oakland | Richard or Booker |
| Philadelphia | B.Scott or free agent |
| Washington | Unsettled backfield |
—Ian Allan