Dalvin Cook declares for 2017 NFL Draft

Florida State Seminoles junior running back Dalvin Cook will forgo his final year of eligibility and will enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

After seeing his Florida State Seminoles win the Capital One Orange Bowl over the Michigan Wolverines, junior running back Dalvin Cook will forgo his final year of eligibility in Tallahassee to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

Cook had an outstanding collegiate career at Florida State. He rushed for 4,464 career yards on 687 attempts for 46 touchdowns. Cook had nothing left to prove while at Florida State. With there being only so many carries in an NFL body, Cook wisely exits the college game for the 2017 NFL Draft.

At times in 2016, Cook was a Heisman Trophy candidate. 2016 was the year of the dual-threat quarterback, with bell-cow running backs taking a back seat to high-profile signal callers. Cook thrived in his junior season in Tallahassee, but the Seminoles’ three regular season losses knocked them out of the College Football Playoff picture early.

Taking a look forward at what Cook can do in the NFL, he projects as a first-round talent that can certainly help in a professional backfield. Cook is a physical runner that can explode in the second level. He’s decent in the receiving game and can pass protect very well, too.

Cook can be a bell-cow back in the NFL into his late 20s, but will need a complementary scat back to pair alongside him for Cook to achieve all that he can in the NFL. He, LSU Tigers’ Leonard Fournette, and Stanford Cardinal’s Christian McCaffrey all project as first-round running back talents.

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Cook’s decision to play in the Orange Bowl, while Fournette and McCaffrey elected to sit out their final bowl games might elevate his draft stock to some degree. He showed that he is committed to his team and will play through the final whistle.