Minnesota Vikings Over/Unders: Dalvin Cook

We’re about a month away from the start of Training Camp. . .hopefully. . .and with very little else happening, it might be time to engage in some speculation about what we can expect from some of our favorite Minnesota Vikings players in 2020. I’ll post some over/under figures for some of the more prominent members of the purple, and the debate can commence as to whether or not the player involved will meet those marks.

We’ll start with the member of the Vikings that has generated the most headlines recently in running back Dalvin Cook. Cook recently announced that he would not be taking part in any more team activities until he receives a “reasonable” contract extension, despite the fact that he really doesn’t have any leverage with the way the new CBA is constructed.

Cook is going into a contract year, and is coming off of the best year of his career to this point. He played in 14 games last year. . .one less than in his first two NFL seasons combined. . .and carried the ball 250 times for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also threw in 53 receptions for 519 yards.

With that, here are my proposed over/under totals for Cook for the 2020 NFL season:

• Rushing yards: Over/under 1,200
• Receiving yards: Over/under 500
• Total touchdowns: Over/under 11.5 (I’ll go with a .5 figure here so that people can’t say “push”)

Now, a completely healthy Dalvin Cook would have no problem blowing those numbers away. Part of the issue with Cook, however, has been his inability to stay healthy. As I mentioned earlier, he only played in 15 games in his first two NFL seasons before playing in 14 of the team’s 16 games last season. He also slowed down noticeably in the second half of the season as he once again dealt with another injury. The splits are pretty incredible.

• Games 1-8: 156 carries, 823 yards, 5.27 yards/carry, 9 touchdowns
• Games 9-16: 131 carries, 424 yards, 3.24 yards/carry, 6 touchdowns

The figure for Games 9-16 include the Vikings’ two playoff games, as Cook missed the final two games of the regular season.

Cook also didn’t crack the 100-yard mark in rushing yardage in a game after the team’s Week 7 win at Detroit, though he did get into the 90s three different times after that.

We know that the Vikings are going to want to run the ball with Gary Kubiak officially taking over as the offensive coordinator with Kevin Stefanski’s departure. We also know that the Vikings might want to start carving out a bigger role for second-year man Alexander Mattison in the event that they can’t come to a long-term arrangement with Cook and he winds up leaving after 2020. And, as we’ve mentioned, Cook has been bitten by the injury bug in each of his first three NFL season.

So, what do you think of the over/under numbers that I’ve put up here for Dalvin Cook for 2020, folks? Do you think he’s going to reach them or fall short?