During a recent edition of #PFTPM, the five-week hiatus answer to PFT Live, I mentioned the Jets are gaining momentum in the chase for running back Dalvin Cook. During a more recent interview with Jets reporter Paul Esden, Jr. Cook’s agent, Zac Hiller, was asked to respond to my suggestion that the Jets are indeed picking up steam.
Hiller said nothing to contradict the notion that the Jets are very interested in Cook, or that Cook is very interested in the Jets. Cook has said he wants to win a Super Bowl, and Hiller’s comments make it very clear that Cook believes he could win one with quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the other great players on the roster.
The key remains doing the deal. As with receiver DeAndre Hopkins, none of the interested parties have persuaded the player to accept an offer. Cook, like Hopkins, might be waiting for his market to heat up — possibly with the arrival of another team. Possibly due to a starting running back suffering an injury.
Regardless, three teams in the AFC East bear watching for Cook: the Jets, Dolphins, and Patriots. Whichever one gets him will keep him away from one of the other two. At some point, that could get an all-in owner to direct his football personnel to up the offer and get it done.
Fullback Alec Ingold would like to see running back Dalvin Cook join him in the Dolphins backfield, but there doesn’t appear to be anything imminent when it comes to a deal.
Jeff Darlington of ESPN reports, via DolphinsTalk.com, that there is “nothing urgent ” in regard to Cook coming to terms with the Dolphins or any other team right now. Cook is expected to wait until closer to training camp before making an agreement on where to play during the 2023 season.
As previously reported, the Dolphins made Cook a contract offer after he was released by the Vikings. Cook has not been willing to accept that offer, but there’s been no word of offers from other clubs that would push Miami to up that offer or put them out of the running for Cook’s services.
There are several other veteran backs available as free agents right now as well and plenty of discussion about the low value that teams have put on running backs this offseason. Neither of those things suggest that a massive offer lurks around the corner for Cook, but it seems he’ll still be taking his time before accepting anything that’s already come his way.
The Miami Dolphins have a great offense. Their defense could be as good. Maybe better.
Veteran defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah recently declared that there’s basically no limit to what Miami’s defense can be.
“I’ll say we can be as good as we want to be ,” Ogbah told Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, via NFL.com. “I’m excited about this defense. We’ve got [defensive coordinator] Vic [Fangio] coaching us up. I can’t wait. It’s been a long time coming. This year, I feel like this is the year. We can be as good as we want to be. I’m ready to go out there and dominate.”
It will take dominance to emerge as the champion of the AFC East, arguably the best top-to-bottom division in football.
“Our division is tough now,” Ogbah said. “But we’re excited, we love the competition. We’re ready to go. We don’t look at nobody [else]. We compete against ourself.”
One key factor for everyone involved — Ogbah included — is the ability to play.
“It’s all about health,” he said. “This game’s all about being healthy. I’m excited. I’ve been doing the right things with my body, taking care of my body, just making sure I’m ready and fit to last the whole season.”
Injuries limited Ogbah to only nine regular-season appearances in 2022. The prior year, he appeared in all 17 games, matching a career-high 9.0 sacks.
Beyond Ogbah, the Dolphins have Bradley Chubb, Christian Wilkins, and Jaelan Phillips on the defensive line. Jalen Ramsey has joined a secondary that already featured Xavien Howard and Jevon Holland. With Fangio drawing up and calling the plays, they could indeed be a great defense.
Again, given the difficulty of the schedule for all AFC East teams (in addition to playing each other twice, they all play the Chiefs, Chargers, Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants), it could be that only one team makes it to the postseason — even though any of them could be good enough to climb the playoff tree to the Super Bowl.
Bradley Chubb is now a member of the Dolphins, but he was with the Broncos until being traded around last year’s deadline and that means he got a close view of quarterback Russell Wilson’s disappointing first season in Denver.
During an appearance on Dolphins teammate Tyreek Hill’s It Needed To Be Said podcast, Chubb was asked about that experience. Hill said that one “pro” of not being with the Broncos anymore was that Chubb does not have to hear Wilson say “Let’s Ride” any more and noted one instance when Wilson dropped his catchphrase in the wake of a Broncos loss.
Chubb said that was “a little sad,” but that Wilson didn’t walk around the team’s facility saying it and he had a generally positive review of the way Wilson handled a difficult year.
“He gets so much flak. It’s crazy, bro, because he do the absolute most that he can possibly do to make sure that he’s the best he possibly can be, you know what I mean?” Chubb said. “He doesn’t miss a step. When he has a fluke year like this, bro, you just have to chalk it up. Bro, you had a bad year. But it gets so glorified because of who he is, who he’s been, what he’s done. You have to look it as a nod to who you are as a person. ‘I’m on this pedestal, everybody wants to knock me down.’ That’s how it is with him. All the different allegations, he has to sit there and take it. It was dope to see how he just stayed the same person throughout it all. It was unfortunate that we just couldn’t reach the potential that we all thought we was going to be.”
Hill seemed to agree with the idea that Wilson took too much criticism for a down year, but he and Chubb will have their attention elsewhere as they try to move to the top of the AFC East this season. Wilson and the Broncos will be fending for themselves with a new head coach and what they hope will be a brighter future.
Even before the Vikings officially released Dalvin Cook, the Dolphins were a rumored suitor for the running back’s services in 2023.
Cook is still on the open market as a free agent. But one of the players who could block for him wants him to join the squad in Miami.
“Man, we’ve got a plethora of backs right now,” fullback Alec Ingold said in an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Especially with our [third]-round pick Devon [Achane], Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Myles Gaskin, Savon Ahmed — we’ve got some dogs here. So having Dalvin Cook in the mix, that competition breeds excellence , man. You want as [many] good, quality backs as you can possibly have — especially in our offense when guys can really make something happen with it.
“You can touch it a million different ways. You’ve got out of the backfield, you’ve got in the backfield, outside zone, inside zone, we’re going to run some routes. So, it’s, man — more backs. Give me all the backs. Can we have 15 running backs in the training camp room? I would love it.”
As Ingold said, the Dolphins added to what was already a strong running backs room in the draft by adding Texas A&M’s Achane. But Cook is a player who has rushed for at least 1,100 yards in each of the last four seasons. That’s a significant difference-maker.
Head coach Mike McDaniel has talked about wanting to run the ball more in the coming season. If the Dolphins do end up signing Cook, it’ll be a clear signal that Miami intends to do just that.