Fantasy Football Player Profile: Dalvin Cook
![Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook (33) celebrated his first quarter 13-yard touchdown run at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday December 16, 2018 in Minneapolis, MN.] The Minnesota Vikings hosted the Miami Dolphins at U.S. Bank Stadium. Jerry Holt • Jerry.holt@startribune.com(Photo By Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2Fbce94fb6fe3f911209e9f76fdaa20a68bc34d20e1183cacff787e437735a9a5c.jpg "Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook (33) celebrated his first quarter 13-yard touchdown run at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday December 16, 2018 in Minneapolis, MN.] The Minnesota Vikings hosted the Miami Dolphins at U.S. Bank Stadium. Jerry Holt • Jerry.holt@startribune.com(Photo By Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)")
Fantasy Football Player Profile: Dalvin Cook
Best Case Scenario
Let’s just assume health is a given in the best case because it’s one of the only elements that Cook is missing at this point. Perhaps my favorite addition for Cook is the hiring of Gary Kubiak. This is a man that has coached in some form in 22 NFL seasons. He’s widely considered a running game guru, and with good reason.
Of his 22 years, his rushing offense has finished inside the top 12 in attempts 13 times. During that stretch, 11 seasons were top 10 finishes. If the attempts weren’t enough, how about 15 of 22 seasons in the top 12 of rushing yards? What about 14 seasons inside the top 12 in rushing touchdowns? Kubiak is only an “offensive advisor” but make no mistake – he’s there to guide Kevin Stefanski who will be an offensive coordinator for the first time ever.
One of the consistent themes from coach Mike Zimmer last season was the Vikings needed to run the ball more, as evidenced by his quotes from many post-game media sessions. This one from an interview in April to vikings.com speaks volumes, and why Kubiak could be such an important piece –
"“We want to be great running the football … but it’s not always about running for 200 yards,” Zimmer said. “The defense was on the field four minutes more a game [in 2018], I think that’s what it was. It’s time of possession, it’s controlling the game, it’s the mentality, the physicality of all that. If you look at the teams that played really good on offense this year, or the final four teams or whatever you want to call them, they ran the ball.”"
Seeing how Minnesota was third-worst in rushing yards per game and ran the sixth-fewest rushing attempts, it’s not hard to see where Zimmer was coming from. Cook is not only going to be a beneficiary, but the Vikings clearly have confidence in him, judging by the running backs on the roster.
They have four outside of Cook, with only Ameer Abdullah having more than one year of experience. They did pick Alexander Mattison(strong rookie pick given the situation) in the third round, but this seems to be the Dalvin Cook Show. A combo of health, renewed focus on the running game, a coach known for having an elite rushing attack and utter lack of competition could have Cook inside the top 10 running backs easily this year.