These 5 running backs are the NFL’s most explosive right now
By Dustin Baker
5. Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings
15+ Yard Gains in 2019: 26
Total Touches: 303
15+ Yard Gains to Touches Percentage: 8.6
These rankings entail a medley of quasi-downhill runners and slasher-type tailbacks. Dalvin Cook is a blend of both with a heavier emphasis on the slasher-style.
Cook amassed 26 gains of 15+ yards last season, and he is the only player on this list to do so evenly between the run and the pass. He had 13 explosive rushes and 13 explosive receptions. In many respects, he was the engine of the Minnesota Vikings offense.
Currently, he and Minnesota’s front office are locked in a contractual staredown. Cook, like most, wants more guaranteed money while the Vikings seem to have an incentive-laden contractual approach in mind. Sans injury concerns, Cook is a more-than-prolific tailback.
In the last decade, his 104.1 yards-from-scrimmage-per-game is the sixth-most in the NFL. And, that’s out of a pool of every single running back to touch a football from 2010-19.
Cook has also scored a touchdown in 55 percent of all career games that he has played. That notably outpaces fantasy god Christian McCaffrey who has scored in 50 percent of all games in his three-year career.
The consensus is that Dalvin Cook and the Vikings will likely meet in the middle on a longterm contract. But if he remains steadfast in his holdout, running backs Alexander Mattison and Mike Boone are poised to split the load of responsibility.