It was a little odd when Minnesota was so willing to release Dalvin Cook, and it's been a little odd that nobody has stepped up to sign him yet. But both of those facts seem a little less odd after the recent news involving him.
We knew there was a domestic violence accusation out there, but now we find out there's a court filing that Cook's lawyers offered his accuser $1 million to deny he abused her. So that's kind of bad, and so are the details of the case reported by the Minnesota Star-Tribune. They're in the link for those who are interested, and include a death threat (among other ugliness).
Cook has denied everything, and has a counter-suit; court cases are scheduled for next year. Any possible league suspension is probably also a year away. Probably.
But the details are ugly enough that it could explain why Cook hasn't found a team willing to meet his asking price, certainly not more than a one-year commitment for the 28-year-old (next month). It just might not be the kind of potential controversy/bad publicity any franchise wants to take on, particularly at a high asking price financially.
There's also the reality that Cook himself might not be the same back he used to be. Looking at his last three years, he seems to be a running back on the decline. His yards per carry has dropped from 5.0 to 4.7 to 4.4, and while some of that can be placed on the offense around him, his production has also declined in each of those past three years. The difference-maker in 2020 doesn't seem to be there any more.
That year, Cook put up 137 total yards per game, most of any running back the last three years. A year later, he slipped to 106 per game, and this past year, he was down at 86 yards per game -- 51 fewer than his 2020 peak. Not to knock the guy too much; that's still a top-40 figure from those three seasons, among all running backs with at least 200 carries. But he doesn't seem to be the player he was three years ago.
Top running back performers in terms of total yards per game the last three seasons (minimum 13 games) is shown in the table below. Even 2022 Cook was pretty good, but certainly a level below the previous two seasons.
| RUNNING BACK YARDS PER GAME, 2020-2022 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | G | Att | Run | Avg | No | Rec | TD | Yds/G |
| 2020 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 14 | 312 | 1557 | 5.0 | 44 | 361 | 17 | 137.0 |
| 2020 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 378 | 2027 | 5.4 | 19 | 114 | 17 | 133.8 |
| 2021 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 17 | 332 | 1811 | 5.5 | 40 | 360 | 20 | 127.7 |
| 2022 | Derrick Henry, Ten. | 16 | 349 | 1538 | 4.4 | 33 | 398 | 13 | 121.0 |
| 2022 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 17 | 340 | 1653 | 4.9 | 53 | 400 | 12 | 120.8 |
| 2020 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 15 | 187 | 932 | 5.0 | 83 | 756 | 21 | 112.5 |
| 2022 | Christian McCaffrey, 2TM | 17 | 244 | 1139 | 4.7 | 85 | 741 | 13 | 110.6 |
| 2021 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 13 | 249 | 1159 | 4.7 | 34 | 224 | 6 | 106.4 |
| 2020 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 14 | 201 | 1104 | 5.5 | 47 | 355 | 11 | 104.2 |
| 2022 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 17 | 302 | 1525 | 5.0 | 27 | 239 | 13 | 103.8 |
| 2022 | Saquon Barkley, NYG | 16 | 295 | 1312 | 4.4 | 57 | 338 | 10 | 103.1 |
| 2021 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 240 | 898 | 3.7 | 47 | 439 | 9 | 102.8 |
| 2021 | Nick Chubb, Cle. | 14 | 228 | 1259 | 5.5 | 20 | 174 | 9 | 102.4 |
| 2020 | James Robinson, Jac. | 14 | 240 | 1070 | 4.5 | 49 | 344 | 10 | 101.0 |
| 2020 | David Montgomery, Chi. | 15 | 247 | 1070 | 4.3 | 54 | 438 | 10 | 100.5 |
| 2021 | Najee Harris, Pitt. | 17 | 307 | 1200 | 3.9 | 74 | 467 | 10 | 98.1 |
| 2020 | Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 15 | 232 | 1169 | 5.0 | 36 | 299 | 12 | 97.9 |
| 2021 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 16 | 206 | 911 | 4.4 | 70 | 647 | 20 | 97.4 |
| 2022 | Austin Ekeler, LAC | 17 | 204 | 915 | 4.5 | 107 | 722 | 18 | 96.3 |
| 2021 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 16 | 292 | 1205 | 4.1 | 42 | 314 | 16 | 94.9 |
| 2022 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 15 | 223 | 897 | 4.0 | 57 | 490 | 4 | 92.5 |
| 2021 | Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 14 | 180 | 812 | 4.5 | 69 | 454 | 10 | 90.4 |
| 2022 | Joe Mixon, Cin. | 14 | 210 | 814 | 3.9 | 60 | 441 | 9 | 89.6 |
| 2022 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 17 | 213 | 1121 | 5.3 | 59 | 395 | 7 | 89.2 |
| 2021 | David Montgomery, Chi. | 13 | 225 | 849 | 3.8 | 42 | 301 | 7 | 88.5 |
| 2020 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 15 | 244 | 979 | 4.0 | 52 | 338 | 8 | 87.8 |
| 2020 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 273 | 1065 | 3.9 | 33 | 238 | 12 | 86.9 |
| 2022 | Dalvin Cook, Min. | 17 | 264 | 1173 | 4.4 | 39 | 295 | 10 | 86.4 |
| 2022 | Tony Pollard, Dall. | 16 | 193 | 1007 | 5.2 | 39 | 371 | 12 | 86.1 |
| 2022 | Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 17 | 210 | 1040 | 5.0 | 69 | 421 | 6 | 85.9 |
| 2022 | Dameon Pierce, Hou. | 13 | 220 | 939 | 4.3 | 30 | 165 | 5 | 84.9 |
| 2022 | Travis Etienne, Jac. | 17 | 220 | 1125 | 5.1 | 35 | 316 | 5 | 84.8 |
| 2020 | Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 13 | 181 | 803 | 4.4 | 36 | 297 | 5 | 84.6 |
| 2022 | James Conner, Ari. | 13 | 183 | 782 | 4.3 | 46 | 300 | 8 | 83.2 |
| 2021 | Antonio Gibson, Was. | 16 | 258 | 1037 | 4.0 | 42 | 294 | 10 | 83.2 |
| 2021 | D'Andre Swift, Det. | 13 | 151 | 617 | 4.1 | 62 | 452 | 7 | 82.2 |
| 2020 | Ronald Jones, T.B. | 14 | 192 | 978 | 5.1 | 28 | 165 | 8 | 81.6 |
| 2021 | Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 15 | 217 | 872 | 4.0 | 54 | 348 | 9 | 81.3 |
| 2022 | Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 15 | 228 | 1050 | 4.6 | 27 | 165 | 9 | 81.0 |
| 2021 | Aaron Jones, G.B. | 15 | 171 | 799 | 4.7 | 52 | 391 | 10 | 79.3 |
--Andy Richardson