When the Minnesota Vikings chose to part ways with running back Dalvin Cook this past week, fans of many teams around the league began to speculate if their team would be the one to bring him in.
Naturally, fans of the Broncos were wondering if perhaps the Broncos would be that team.
Initially, it looks like a move that would make sense. The Broncos have Javonte Williams coming back from a torn ACL and the depth behind him, led by free-agent signing Samaje Perine, is a bit suspect, to say the least.
One can also connect the dots between Cook and George Paton, who once worked in the front office for the Vikings. Adding Cook to pair with Williams could give the Broncos an amazing combination, but there are just as many reasons why this move probably won't happen.
Following the signing of veteran pass-rusher Frank Clark, the Broncos project to have only about $6 million in available cap space. Close to every team on this list of potential suitors has much more cap room than the Broncos, according to Over the Cap.
That would be the major reason why the team likely won't sign him but the other would be that it's just not the kind of move that Sean Payton makes. The running back room he currently has in Denver is built quite similar to the ones he had in New Orleans. There's one heavy lifter (Williams) and a good complementary guy in Perine. That is similar to what he had with Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.
Then there are players with high upside in Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin and adding a player like Cook could in fact stunt the growth and possibly the confidence in a player like Williams.
The one time Payton did make a move like this was when he brought Adrian Peterson over, coincidentally after he had spent his entire career to that point in Minnesota.
That experiment lasted exactly four games before Peterson, one of the best running backs in NFL history, was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. The move was made because Peterson just didn't fit with Payton's team and he clearly messed up the chemistry in the backfield.
That's not to say that Cook would do the same, but because of the cap restraints it could put on the team, that's reason enough for the idea of this transaction to be skipped.