Kevin SeifertESPN Staff Writer8. June 2023, 22:044 minutes read
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The Minnesota Vikings have informed running back Dalvin Cook that they plan to release him, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.
The Vikings are expected to try again on Thursday to swap out Cook and if they don’t succeed, they plan to process his release on Friday, according to a source. In any case, this ends Cook’s six-year tenure in Minnesota.
The Miami Dolphins are expected to be interested in signing Cook once he is released, sources told Schefter.
Cook, who turns 28 in August, was expected to earn $14.1 million in captaincy in 2023 and earn $11 million if he spent the season with the Vikings. Those were high numbers for an aging running back who had more than 1,500 touches in his career last season.
The Vikings would owe Cook $2 million if they released him. This would save the Vikings $9 million in cap space after June 1 while also incurring $5.1 million in dead money for their 2023 cap.
The long-rumored split seemed certain after the Vikings Cooks re-signed longtime backup Alexander Mattison with a deal that included $6.35 million in full guarantees for the next few seasons. Given the numerous chances following the move, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah refused to speculate if Cook would be in the Vikings’ 2023 roster.
Mattison is expected to take over the main backlog of the team, with substitutes for 2022 Kene Nwangwu and Ty Chandler – and possibly newcomer DeWayne McBride – competing for the No. 2 role. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said at organized team activities last month that Mattison “has demonstrated that all-three-down kind of ownership that he’s long been capable of.”
Cook, a second-round draft pick in 2017, struggled to stay on the field early in his Minnesota career. His rookie season ended after four games due to a cruciate ligament tear, and a series of other injuries cost him between two and five games each over the next four seasons. A chronic shoulder injury eventually forced him to wear a harness for much of his career.
Still, he managed to put on four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons between 2019 and 2022 and had 29 rushing touchdowns overall in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He also proved an effective receiver, averaging 42 receptions per season after his rookie year.
Cook managed to start in every game for the first time in his career in 2022, even after separating his shoulder in Week 3. But he finished the game in O’Connell’s new scheme averaging 17.8 touches and 86 yards from scrimmage — both the lowest since he turned full-time in 2019.
He had two of the six longest runs of his career in 2022: a 53-yard score in Week 6 against the Miami Dolphins and an 81-yard touchdown in Week 10 against the Buffalo Bills. On the latter, he recorded a top speed of 21.68 mph, the seventh-fastest speed of any ball carrier in 2022, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
But its efficiency numbers, which measure the frequency of transmissions that result in a positive outcome, fell noticeably. He led the NFL with 62 carries that either lost a yard or didn’t win. And as ESPN’s Bill Barnwell noted, in the Next Gen Stats model, only 34.5% of his carries had positive total yards above expectations, which is the second-lowest rate among running backs with at least 200 carries in 2022.
Cook underwent shoulder surgery on February 14 in hopes of avoiding the chronic breakups he has suffered. At the time, the Vikings said he would make a full recovery in time for the regular season. He had not participated in the voluntary portion of the Vikings’ offseason program and the timing of his departure means there will be no dispute over his reporting for mandatory mini-camp later this month.