Why didn’t Dalvin Cook play in the Vikings’ preseason opener?

Despite there being no indications of him suffering any injuries recently, the Minnesota Vikings running back did not suit up for the team’s preseason game on Friday.

For the past few months, Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook has been raving about how he’s finally 100 percent healthy this year after missing time due to injuries in 2017 and 2018.

Cook was praised by Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer after the work he did during the team’s OTAs earlier this year and he’s been playing really well in Minnesota’s training camp this summer.

Despite all of this, the young running back was not active during the Vikings’ first matchup of the 2019 preseason against the New Orleans Saints on Friday night. Cook was among 10 players who didn’t suit up for Minnesota in their preseason opener.

It was a bit odd to see him standing on the sidelines on Friday, especially after all of the talk about him being fully healthy this year. But the reason for Cook being inactive in New Orleans actually had to do with the condition of the turf inside the stadium.

Zimmer was asked why the running back didn’t play on Friday and the Vikings head coach said, “he just didn’t want to put him out (there) on the turf.”

So despite Cook supposedly not dealing with any current injuries, Minnesota is still feeling the need to be cautious with their young running back. This is understandable though since he’s missed 17 of a possible 32 games since he joined the Vikings in 2017.

Hopefully, Minnesota isn’t considering not playing him at all this preseason though because that could actually cause more harm than good.

With the Vikings’ next preseason game taking place at home inside U.S. Bank Stadium, it seems safe to assume that Zimmer will feel comfortable enough to let Cook at least play in a series or two. If not, then it’s only going to create more uncertainty about the running back’s current health heading into the regular season.