Kirk Cousins thinks that Dalvin Cook could come back to Minnesota
Last week, the Minnesota Vikings parted ways with running back Dalvin Cook after he spent six seasons in purple. He hasn’t signed with anyone in free agency yet, though there have been rumors swirling around about interest from various teams. One team that could be on the list that nobody is talking about as it stands right now?
The Minnesota Vikings.
After the team’s practice on Wednesday, quarterback Kirk Cousins was asked some questions about Cook and seemed to imply that the door is open just a tiny bit for a possible return.
from Kirk Cousins today on the recently-released Dalvin Cook: "I'm excited to see where he goes, I'll always be pulling for him and I'm kind of optimistically hoping maybe we get him back. Who knows. Maybe there is an outside chance. We'll see." — Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) June 14, 2023
According to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, Cousins said that he would always be pulling for Cook and that he’s “kind of optimistically hoping maybe (the Vikings) get him back.”
Part of the reason that Cook hasn’t signed with anyone yet is that he’s, reportedly, looking for a base salary in line with the $10 million-plus that he was set to receive from the Vikings this season on his old contract. The problem with that is, honestly, nobody in today’s NFL is giving a running back $10 million. If a team wanted to pay Dalvin Cook $10 million or more, they could have traded for him and inherited his contract, but nobody did.
Of course, that contract is a big part of the reason why nobody traded for Cook. There were reports that surfaced earlier in the offseason that said he wasn’t amenable to a pay cut, and with that being the case there’s no reason to think that he would have been open to a restructure to make him more attractive to potential trade partners.
Cook might be looking for a big money deal now, but I’m guessing that as we get closer to the start of the 2023 season that price tag is going to go down a bit. Could the Vikings be willing to bring him back then? Would he be willing to return at that point?
I don’t think the odds of a Dalvin Cook return to Minnesota are great or anything, but one of the most important members of the team seems to at least feel like it’s a possibility.
Source: Daily Norseman
