Is Dalvin Cook's Mind Changing on Taking Pay Cut To Stay With Vikings?

What if there isn't exactly a robust market for Cook? Could he remain in Minnesota for another year?

Dalvin Cook is still in limbo. The four-time Pro Bowl running back remains on the Vikings' roster, but he hasn't been present at the team's offseason program as he awaits a resolution to his contract situation.

Something is going to happen. Cook isn't going to play with the Vikings on his $14.1 million cap hit, especially considering they re-signed Alexander Mattison for $3.5 million per year and drafted DeWayne McBride. 

All offseason, due to reports that Cook is unwilling to take any kind of pay cut, the sense has been that he'll eventually be traded or released. Making that move after June 1st — or releasing Cook now and designating it as post-June 1 — would create more cap space for the Vikings this year.

With June approaching, could Cook's view of the situation be changing?

"Going back to January, I've been saying I don't see Dalvin Cook here in 2023, there is zero sense that he will take a pay cut," KSTP's Darren Wolfson said on SKOR North's Mackey & Judd. "That has been what has played out the last five months. Here's where the reckless speculation comes into play: I had somebody who knows enough stuff tell me to ... check on the idea that Dalvin is having a change of heart."

The longer Cook remains on the Vikings' roster, the more the possibility may exist that he sticks around in Minnesota for another year. Why? Because if the market for his services isn't what he anticipated it to be, maybe taking a pay cut with the Vikings is his best option after all.

"Can he make more money taking a (pay) cut here, a la Harrison Smith, versus testing the market?" Wolfson said.

"You look at the landscape of the league, who really needs a running back? You look at Austin Ekeler, he reworked his deal this week to remain a Charger. Could something comparable happen where the possibility exists that Dalvin Cook is in Vikings purple in 2023? Now, until I hear otherwise, I will still say I see him elsewhere."

We should find out about Cook's future, one way or another, soon enough.

The Vikings 'Want to Do Right' By Dalvin Cook, Whether Via Trade or Not

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