Report: 'Good chance' Dalvin Cook's best deal is less money with Vikings
Dalvin Cook's future with the Minnesota Vikings remains uncertain, and there's not a player on the roster outside of Kirk Cousins whose name has been speculated upon more than his.
Last week, Cook's agent said the 27-year-old will play with a two healthy shoulders in 2023 for the first time since 2019, though he also referred to the Vikings as a "mediocre" team that limited Cook's production.
Entering the chat Sunday was ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, who said: "I'm told all options are on the table and he could be released if things don't work out."
Cook has a $14.1 million cap hit in 2023. If he's released before June 1 the Vikings save about $5.9 million but still eat around $8.2 million in dead money, according to Over The Cap. Cutting him after June 1 would save $9 million, so if cutting him is the way the Vikings want to go, doing it after June 1 makes the most sense.
Trading him after June 1 would make even more sense (if there's a market for him) because it would save the Vikings $11 million. Trading him before or during the draft (or before June 1) would also save Minnesota about $8 million of his $14.1 million cap hit.
In his Monday column, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer explained why Cook's best option might be returning to the Vikings on a restructured deal that pays him less and saves the Vikings more. In fact, Breer said there's a "good chance" that's his best deal.
"Cook could force the Vikings to cut him now. But at this point of the offseason, he’d do it knowing most other teams have made their plans at his position, spent their cap-cash budgets and are looking at a loaded class of backs in the draft. In other words, Cook takes what they want him to, or risks hitting a very soft market," Breer wrote.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.