Minnesota’s leading rusher, Dalvin Cook, is reportedly holding out until he receives a reasonable deal, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Despite solid depth at the position, that doesn’t bode well for the Vikings offense. Cook was the focal point of an offensive scheme that is very reliant on running the ball.
ESPN’s Mike Clay reported that the Vikings had the run-heaviest offense in the NFL in 2019.
The stats of NFL teams were game-script adjusted, meaning that times when NFL teams took big leads and ran the ball more to run out the clock, were factored out. Same goes for occasions that teams were on the other side of things, and had to pass more when down big in a game.
I think the Vikings would still win games if they decide to move on from Cook and use Alexander Mattison and Mike Boone. I just don’t think the offense would be as successful.
Minnesota should try to sign Cook, in order to avoid any regression. I think if Cook is asking for Christian McCaffrey money, it’s probably not a good call. But if the team can work out a deal for $13 million or so, I don’t see why they shouldn’t.
I wrote about why the Vikings should extend Cook earlier in the offseason.
The Chiefs had the pass-heaviest offense in the NFL. Green Bay ranked No. 6 in pass-heavy offenses and Chicago was 12th.
