The fall of Dalvin Cook during the 2017 NFL Draft was not shocking, because we heard leading up to the draft about red flags surrounding the Florida State running back. But it was still surprising no one took a chance on him in the first round given his incredible talent level. Cook's fall resulted in the Vikings scooping up a steal in the second round, and the fit might ultimately be a perfect one for both the player and the team.
By all accounts early in training camp, Cook has the lead on the starting job. Latavius Murray just came off the PUP list Monday so he's getting a late start on the race to succeed franchise legend Adrian Peterson. Cook won't have a stranglehold on the starting job, but his fit with what Pat Shurmur wants to run meshes too well for him not to see the bulk of the carries in Minnesota this year.
The Vikings attempted 380 rushes last season, seventh fewest in the NFL. That's just 58 more than league leader Ezekiel Elliott ... who sat out Week 17. For a team that has revolved around Peterson for the better part of a decade, that's a pretty low number. Peterson himself rushed 327 times in 2015.
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Minnesota probably won't get back to the power run formations that defined Peterson's tenure, but they don't need to. Cook, who has no interest in comparing himself to Adrian Peterson, is actually a better fit for what Pat Shurmur wants to run than AP himself.
While AP thrived in power formations, Cook is a shifty, explosive runner who operates best running stretch plays and counters.
During one of the Vikings "best" running games last year -- an 87-rushing-yard effort against the Cowboys in Week 13 -- Shurmur was forced to run draws out of shotgun with Matt Asiata. That is a suboptimal situation.
Asiata picked up five yards there, but he was staring down a pretty sizable hole and one that he dove right into. There was the opportunity, if he was patient enough, to potentially bounce outside to the left -- there's one safety committing to the hole already and Kyle Rudolph coming to help block.
There's a substantial difference in what Cook did against Clemson, a defense with tons of NFL-caliber talent, last year. Cook took a carry out of the pistol formation, looked right and exhibited a tremendous amount of patience, waiting for blocks and drawing a safety in to give himself room on the outside.
Cook could take the free yards and dive in the middle. Instead he draws the Clemson defenders in before taking the run outside and tapping his turbo button with alacrity.
Cook would finish the losing effort against Clemson with an absurd 169 rushing yards on just 19 carries. He was largely bottled up by the national championship defense for much of the game, but eventually busted off the big run you saw above and another run where, once again, he showed patience as he started running outside before taking the edge and leaving everyone in his dust.
He gone.
Jerick McKinnon is a decent running back, but when he takes a handoff on second and 15 out of shotgun, you can see the difference in vision between him and Cook. McKinnon got in the hole and basically decided he was going to close his eyes and not fumble. The result is a pickup of three yards and an uninspiring rushing play.
Compare that with how Cook, in this case against Florida (more NFL-caliber defensive talent) bounces around in tight spaces. Cook can get skinny in a hurry and he is surprisingly adept at manuevering in tight spaces.
The NFL is going to be a different beast, no doubt. But Cook took a play that should have been a five-yard run and turned it into a touchdown because of his shiftiness in close quarters. Pro Football Focus gave him a 129.4 Elusive Rating coming into the draft, ranked No. 2 in the country. By comparison, McKinnon received a 34.4 Elusive Rating (30th in the NFL) while Asiata received a 21.3 (48th).
Cook also got a 45.1 Breakaway Percentage from PFF (18th best in the country). Asiata had a Breakaway Percentage of 16.7 percent, McKinnon 11.3. The Vikings didn't do either guy any favors last year with their lack of run blocking -- and Cook will benefit greatly from the investment in Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers, who are upgrades by default -- but Cook is a superior player in terms of his ability to move in tight spaces and rip off big plays out of nowhere.
Anyone who watched the Orange Bowl knows about his speed.
Cook has an extra gear that many running backs don't possess. You don't see him get walked down. Just for fun, one more GIF of Cook, this time running against UNC.
The ability to turn on a dime and to accelerate into small holes is just a whole lot of fun to watch. Mike Zimmer has indicated the team understands Cook is a "different" type of player, the kind of guy who shines early on in his career.
"The first thing the veteran players I've talked to about him say is, 'This guy gets it,'" Mike Zimmer told Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com during training camp recently. "He understands protections, he works hard, they see how he interacts in the locker room, and that's part of it. And then, when you have a special player -- like when we got [linebacker Anthony] Barr -- they say, 'Hey, man, this guy is different than other guys.'
"That's kinda how he is. They see him out there on the field with the other guys, and it's like, 'There's something different about this guy, the way he runs, accelerates, the creases he can get to.' He's got a tough mentality. Players can see exceptional athletes. When they go out there and they're going against guys, they can see: This guy is pretty good."
So what you have is a player who has more talent than the rest of the running backs on the roster (all due respect to Murray, McKinnon and Bishop Sankey), a player the team is invested in (a second-round pick is nothing to shake a stick at), a player who is opening eyes during training camp and a player who is familiar with the scheme that his offensive coordinator wants to run.
"The system is definitely similar, the lingo is just different," Cook told CBS Sports earlier this offseason. "We run inside zone, outside zone, ball to the backs out of the backfield. Just like Florida State, [the key is] going in and getting your rhythm and timing with your offensive linemen and the quarterback."
The Vikings aren't going to change what they did last year on offense once Shurmur took over for Norv Turner. This offense is going to feature a ton of Sam Bradford in shotgun, making short passes and running the ball in similar fashion to the way Cook operated at Florida State.
His patience running these zone-run style plays paid off huge for the Seminoles. And it could very well end up paying immediate dividends for the Vikings as well.
