The Minnesota Vikings are expected to officially release Dalvin Cook on Friday if they cannot trade him on Thursday. The Denver Broncos need to be all over this move. I'm not sure there is a better fit for Dalvin Cook's new team than the Denver Broncos.
News broke on Thursday morning that the team plans on moving on from the four-time Pro Bowl running back, but that they'll try one last time to trade him on Thursday. Divorce seemed inevitable and it seems as if the divorce papers will be finalized by the end of the week.
Adam Schefter also reported that both the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins are expected to have interest in Cook, along with other teams, surely, but his naming the Broncos and Dolphins like that indicates to me that those will be the teams who have the most interest in the player.
The Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos are two of the teams that are expected to have an interest in signing running back Dalvin Cook once he officially is released, per sources. There likely will be others, but those two have been monitoring Cook for weeks.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 8, 2023
Let's dive into three reasons why the Broncos need to sign Cook.
3 reasons why the Denver Broncos need to sign Dalvin Cook
1. The Broncos have a need at running back
I think a lot of us were shocked to see Javonte Williams out there during OTAs moving around like he was. His major knee injury at the beginning of the 2022 season seemed to put a dark cloud on his 2023 season. For a while there, it seemed like Williams was going to miss a significant part of the 2023 season, but as of now, it does look like he could return for week one.
However, just because Williams might be healthy enough to return for week one, does not mean he'll be 100%, right? I can only imagine how much wear and tear are put on the knees of running backs in the NFL, who have the shortest shelf life of perhaps any position in professional sports.
The last thing I'd want to see is Williams returning before he should and only further hurting himself. Dalvin Cook is coming off four straight years of at least 1,100 rushing yards, so he's still very productive and has always been.
He could easily form a nice one-two punch with Samaje Perine while Javonte Williams gets as healthy as reasonably possible.
3 reasons why the Denver Broncos need to sign Dalvin Cook
2. They've been aggressive so far, so why stop now?
The Denver Broncos have spent the most money of any team in 2023 NFL free agency this year. They have been hyper-aggressive in signing players to fill the various holes on their roster, and with Cook likely set to become a free agent, why stop the aggression?
Sean Payton has not had a problem handing out contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, so I don't see how signing Cook for what might be a two-year deal worth, oh, I don't know, around $14-$16 million would not work. The Broncos do have the cap space and necessary moves in their back pocket to free up more to make this work.
3. Sign him so another AFC team cannot
This is a petty reason, but Denver can also be defensive. Adam Schefter indicated that the Miami Dolphins are expected to have an interest in signing Cook. Well, not only do the Broncos play the Dolphins this year, but Miami is also a very strong candidate to earn a Wild Card spot in 2023.
The Broncos are also angling toward that, so the last thing we'd want to see as fans is a close competitor signing Dalvin Cook. Denver should hop on this signing if nothing else, so another AFC team does not.
Even teams like the Chiefs and Chargers would have a fit for Dalvin Cook on their roster. Denver should continue their aggression and sign Dalvin Cook. They clearly think they can win this year or they wouldn't have spent over $200 million this offseason in free agency, right?