Dalvin Cook anticipated the Vikings moving on from him after the season. It didn’t happen until June 9, but the running back now is a free agent and weighing his options.
“It is strange to me,” Cook said on The Adam Schefter Podcast. “Being in Minnesota for the last six years, I’m grateful. Everything. I love Minnesota. The people growed on me. The community growed on me. It was great for me and my family. Just to take this next step in life and just to continue this journey of being a professional football player, I’m looking forward to it. It’s just different. It’s a different vibe for me. I just work out by myself. I just rehab and spend time with my family. It’s been great for me.”
Cook, who turns 28 in August, rushed for 1,173 yards last season in earning a fourth consecutive Pro Bowl. He called himself in the “prime, prime” of his career.
Plenty of teams are interested depending on his price tag.
“My production on the field is all I can control,” said Cook, who earned $32.35 million in six years with the Vikings. “My agent, he does the best job in the world to get me in the best [position] I can be in. That’s his job. My job is to produce and be me. That’s all I can do right now. I’m sitting in the position right now where I’m so comfortable to make a decision. I just want to go contend for a Super Bowl right now.”
Cook does not have a timetable for a decision on his next team, saying it could happen any day. But he knows what he wants in his next team.
Besides getting paid and going to a team that’s going to “ground and pound” with him as a “three-down back,” Cook wants to play for a contender.
“I’m looking for that value of Dalvin Cook,” Cook said. “If I walk into a situation, it’s going to be a situation where I can help somebody go take that next step of trying to go get that Lombardi Trophy. That’s all I’ve got my mind on. The money part is going to come. That’s my agent’s part. Me, Dalvin Cook, I’m looking for somebody that’s ready to go win. I can be the piece to go help somebody to turn the page of go win and turn the franchise to go get a Lombardi Trophy. That’s all I want. I want to hold that trophy up, kiss it one time. That’s all I’m looking for right now.”
Cook was on injured reserve when the Vikings reached the NFC Championship Game in 2017. He played in three postseason games with the team and got as far as the divisional round before a 27-10 loss to the 49ers.