henry mackenna
AFC East Reporter
The New York Jets remain one of the top candidates to sign free agent running back Dalvin Cook, according to sources close to the situation.
There have been six teams interested in the former Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowler, with the Jets, New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins being the top contenders. The AFC East may continue to amass talent. The Jets, in particular, make sense for the 27-year-old Cook.
“Obviously, you never want to say no to a great player,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said at a news conference Thursday. “I’ll leave (GM) Joe (Douglas) to that one. I know there’s a lot of contract stuff that goes with it. But he’s good.”
Cook is dealing with an ongoing lawsuit after his ex-girlfriend alleged that he physically assaulted her and caused her serious injury. She is suing for defamation. According to a court filing acquired by the Star Tribune, Cook attempted to pay her $1 million if she would clear him of the crime. The woman rejected the offer.
An AFC East coach told FOX Sports that the lawsuit is likely to affect Cook’s market and confirmed that the field is narrowing down to the Jets, Patriots and Dolphins.
In addition to the demand, the broker market has never been more financially complicated. Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs are in contract disputes with their franchises. During the offseason, only two free-agent running backs (Miles Sanders and David Montgomery) got more than $10 million guaranteed in their new contracts, and there was an impressive group of running backs on the market. Meanwhile, seven receivers received contracts with $10 million or more guaranteed, and the market was especially short of talent at that position.
Cook Camp is preaching patience. Whether someone gets hurt or a team simply realizes it doesn’t have what it needs as a running back during camp, Cook will wait in hopes that interested teams will increase their offers.
New York has shown no interest in the other remaining free agent running backs, Leonard Fournette and Ezekiel Elliott, according to sources.
For the Jets, the health of second-year running back Breece Hall is what could make a matchup between Cook and the Jets more urgent. Hall tore his ACL in October and began training camp on the physically unable to perform list. He won’t practice with the team until he gets off that roster, although he can get off at any time.
Best landing spot for free agent RB Dalvin Cook
It is not clear if he will be ready for the start of the season. Saleh said he’s not thinking in terms of Week 1 for Hall.
“When it’s ready, it’s ready,” Saleh said Thursday. “The one thing with these ACLs is you don’t want to go too fast, but at the same time, you don’t want to go too slow, so there’s a balancing act.”
In May, Hall was asked if he would return for Week 1.
“I don’t know…Honestly, I hope I’m ready, but you never know,” he said.
Hall said he has spoken with Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry, all of the leading running backs who have overcome major injuries.
New York can also be patient. The Jets, who started training camp early because they will play in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3, are working with running backs Michael Carter, Zonovan Knight and Israel Abanikanda. Carter and Knight played well in Hall’s absence last season.
If the Jets add Cook, it would buy them an enormous amount of time in Hall’s recovery. And frankly, Hall might be glad to have that time. If he started the season on the PUP roster and missed the first half of the year, he might still be back in time to help with a Super Bowl push. And it’s possible he won’t jeopardize his health during his all-important third and fourth seasons, when he’ll need to put up big numbers for a contract extension.
Cook’s future could depend on the lawsuit, first and foremost. And then we’ll see how Hall’s injury and the broader running back market impact the former Viking.
Before joining FOX Sports as a reporter for the AFC East, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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