Are the Vikings and Dalvin Cook in a standoff?

It's been some time since we’ve heard the rumblings of a Dalvin Cook trade, but as of late, things between the two seem to be at a standstill. Dalvin Cook is headed into his sixth NFL season with the Vikings but could be headed out of Minnesota this year.

Multiple NFL insiders have reported that Dalvin has been shopped for quite some time, and the front runners of this trade are the Miami Dolphins. Cook is from South Florida, so if he is indeed traded, he will get to go play for his home team. Dalvin Cook is set to make $14.1 million against the cap, which makes him one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL. Dalvin has had a great career with the Vikings so far, but a lot of fans question whether or not he will keep being productive enough to garnish the $14 million cap hit this year.

Dalvin has also been quoted saying that he will not take a pay cut to stay with the Minnesota Vikings, leaving the team very few options. Either pay the man or ship him elsewhere. The Vikings have a solid stable of backs behind him, but none of the other names are as electrifying as Dalvin can be. Sure, we have a lot of young talent in the backfield, but Dalvin has the chance to hit the proverbial home run every time he touches the ball. I’m not so sure if we can say that about Alexander Mattison, Ty Chandler, Kene Nwangwu, or newly added rookie seventh-rounder Dewayne McBride.

While I would love to see Dalvin stay on the team, it might be time to move from him. But now that the chatter of him being traded on draft day has come and gone, I am starting to wonder if the Vikings are willing to pay him his big money and bank on his explosiveness lasting at least one more year. Depending on the value that the Vikings could possibly receive for trading one of its best players remains to be seen, but I have to believe that anything under a fourth-rounder shouldn't even be discussed. If I’m Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, I’m holding onto Dalvin until the price is absolutely right, and maybe that’s what Kwesi and Co. are doing. As long as the Vikings can stay under the cap, I would rather pay Dalvin to play rather than ship him off for a bottom-round pick that might not ever play, but that's just my opinion.