Dalvin Cook is preparing to do something that nobody imagined heading into the offseason. He has officially been working on taking snaps at the wide receiver position to help out this offense even further. No, this isn’t a full-on position change for him. He will remain a halfback. However, it does seem like he could be at wideout far more often than in the past. It makes sense though. After all, the Minnesota Vikings have brand new coaches and a new general manager to take this team into a new era.
Cook isn’t going to be the first running back to line up wide to try and catch passes. It has been a trend in the NFL over the past few years to try to get their bell cow running backs involved whenever they can. Minnesota wants to incorporate that same type of game plan. From what we’ve heard, Cook is lining up at wideout in bunch sets during these OTAs. While some may think that he will just be in the same role as always, his interview may show that there are new things coming to the Vikings offense.
Dalvin Cook Won’t Be Giving Up Any Secrets
Dalvin Cook was asked about this new wide receiver role he has been carving out. He said, “We’ll see. I don’t want to sit up here and just tell y’all everything. We gotta wait and see. We got Green Bay Week 1, so we’re gonna wait and see.” They asked a similar question later on as well. To which he replied, “That’s every year. I’m trying to get better every year. Seeing something new from Dalvin? Yeah. I’m working my tail off. I’m grinding, putting in all the work I need to put in. So, yeah. Expect the unexpected.”
When you look at his numbers over the past few seasons, he has been building up to a pass catching role since he was drafted. He caught just 11 passes as a rookie in the league. In 2019, he picked up a career high 53 receptions. The numbers are consistently going up, but he isn’t nearly at the level that Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara are at in the pass game yet.
There does seem to be big changes coming to Minnesota this upcoming season. Don’t be surprised if he ends up having an even larger role in the offense than before. All of you fantasy managers out there need to keep this information heading into future drafts.
Will Cook thrive in this new role, or is he going to be used primarily as a decoy in these sets?
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