According to Spotrac, 31 veteran free agent running backs have signed contracts this offseason. Among those 31, just one dozen received $3 million or more per year in their new pacts. Alexander Mattison, as well as journeymen D’Onta Foreman and Nyheim Hines — who you may have forgotten existed — have all found homes for 2024.
Even some players considered to be massive busts, such as Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Rashaad Penny, find themselves on 90-man rosters at the moment. There are 2,880 people that may find themselves on an NFL team right now. Dalvin Cook isn’t one of them.
When speaking on NFL Network’s The Insiders yesterday about his short-term future and what he’s looking to prove the next time he takes the field, Cook told Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo he wants to show he’s the same player he proved to be prior to 2023, when he was the Minnesota Vikings’ franchise back.
Cook spent the 2023 regular season with the New York Jets, operating alongside Breece Hall on a regular basis for the first four weeks before being almost entirely phased out of the offense down the stretch. He was granted a release ahead of Week 18 and joined the Baltimore Ravens shortly thereafter in a reserve role for their playoff push.
We’ll admit it: there’s obviously a difference between the workloads Mattison, Hines and Penny were pushing for and the one Cook aspires to have, which impacts how great of a fit they are for their respective teams compared to him. Any back with a track record such as his wants to be guaranteed touches; all the aforementioned players aren’t locks for a 53-man roster spot, let alone carries each week.
