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Earlier today, we talked about Mike Zimmer’s press conference to talk about his contract extension. During that press conference, he was asked about running back Dalvin Cook, and told reporters that Cook himself had assured Zimmer that he would be in Eagan when Training Camp started on Saturday. It appeared that the crisis had been averted.
But, since this is the Minnesota Vikings, no crisis is ever really averted, is it? It’s just sort of pushed off temporarily.
This tweet came out from ESPN reporter Adam Schefter about half an hour ago:
Dalvin Cook’s agent, Zac Hiller: “First, congrats to Coach Zimmer on his well-earned extension. However, Dalvin has not spoken to him in regards to reporting to camp. We are unsure why this was said. I hope Dalvin can continue to play a major role in the Vikings future success.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 25, 2020
Well, then.
Cook’s agent is now on record as saying that his client never spoke to Zimmer on the subject of reporting to camp. If this is true, as much as I like Mike Zimmer. . .this is not the greatest way to start off your new contract.
We know that Cook is a vital part of the Vikings’ offense, he’s coming off of his best season as a pro, and he’s watched a couple of big name running backs get truckloads of money dumped into their laps this offseason in Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey. That Cook is attempting to get a contract extension going into the final year of his rookie deal is not a surprise, and he has apparently gained some more leverage with some of the new rules the league has put out in their negotiations over getting the season started during the COVID-19 crisis.
The fact that Cook was, apparently, going to show up to camp on time was reasonable evidence pointing towards a contract extension being done and both sides living happily ever after. However, now the whole situation appears to have been thrown into chaos again.
Hopefully, one way or another, this can all get resolved and we can kind of forget that it ever happened. This being the Vikings, however, I’m not sure that’s something we should be anticipating.