The Minnesota Vikings will look to use Dalvin Cook early and often in the offense this season and LaDainian Tomlinson thinks he will have a great year.
When the Minnesota Vikings drafted Dalvin Cook in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft, hopes were that he could help fill the void left by the departing Adrian Peterson in the team’s backfield.
His rookie season started out great, with Cook breaking the franchise rookie record for rushing yards in a debut and rushing for 354 yards with two touchdowns in just four games played, adding 90 receiving yards as well.
Sadly, then a devastating ACL injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season. However, expectations are that Cook will be primed and ready to return for the 2018 NFL season to take on a key role in the offense.
One NFL analyst who is very high on Dalvin Cook is former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who included the Vikings rusher on his list of running backs who are set to have a breakout season.
In the article, Tomlinson predicts Cook to break 1,000 rushing yards this season, giving him a total of 1,200 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. However, not included in that projection are yards or touchdowns coming from the passing game, where Minnesota’s running back can also be extremely dangerous.
Tomlinson added some comments about why Cook will have a great season in the article:
"“He should continue to evolve within the Vikings’ offense as a dynamic threat in both the run and pass games. Plus, having Kirk Cousins under center should only boost Cook’s production. Defenses will be forced to pick their poison, making this offense hard to stop.”"
Of course, Cook will be sharing some carries and snaps with Latavius Murray, but that shouldn’t slow the sophomore rusher down too much. If he can stay healthy, 1,200 yards might be a conservative estimate considering his explosiveness and ability to change directions on a dime.
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No matter what, opposing defenses will have to pay close attention to Dalvin Cook when they play the Minnesota Vikings and will have trouble stopping him in both the running and passing offenses.