Holdout season has officially begun in the NFL with Pro Bowler Dalvin Cook electing not to attend any more virtual meetings until Minnesota meets his salary demands. So how far apart are the Vikings and their contract-year running back in extension talks? According to beat reporter Courtney Cronin of ESPN, the Vikes and their disgruntled workhorse have a long way to go in negotiations.
The original figure presented by Cook and his camp was close to $16 million annually—which would match the record deal inked by Christian McCaffrey earlier this offseason—though the former second-round pick has since lowered his asking price to $15 million. The Vikings, who will have $8.13 million in remaining cap space once their rookie class is signed, have been reluctant to go over $10 million a year for Cook, who had struggled with injuries prior to his breakout 2019. Cook impressed by averaging 81.1 rushing yards per game (seventh-most) last season, though durability continues to be a concern for the former Florida State Seminole, who has missed 19 of 48 possible games since arriving in 2017.
Both sides are likely posturing at this early juncture. Feeling each other out is as much a part of negotiating as Hawaiian shirts are to Andy Reid’s wardrobe. It comes with the territory. Threatening a holdout is a common negotiating ploy and though occasionally a player will act on it (ex-Steelers malcontent Le’Veon Bell punting the 2018 season, for instance), it’s usually a bluff. Per Cronin, Cook would “gladly” meet the Vikings in the middle at $13 million annually.
That would be a substantial raise for Cook, who is due a modest $1.33 million in the final year of his rookie deal. And while it wouldn’t raise the running-back bar set by McCaffrey (Cronin acknowledges Cook won’t reset the market), it would still make him among the league’s highest-paid ball-carriers, trailing only McCaffrey, Bell and Ezekiel Elliott on a per-year basis. The 24-year-old is young enough to warrant a long-term commitment, though Cook’s injury history and relative lack of production until last season (13 of his 19 career touchdowns came in 2019) are both cause for skepticism.
So where does that leave the two sides? Nowhere yet. And while Cook has certainly made his feelings known, his holdout—if it continues—won’t really be felt until the Vikings return to the gridiron (COVID-19 has prevented teams from practicing). With Joe Mixon and Alvin Kamara also eyeing new deals (in lieu of extensions, both will join Cook on the free-agent market next offseason), it’s going to be an interesting few months for the running-back position.
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