A Dalvin Cook Holdout?

I doubt that it happens.

I guess, technically, Dalvin Cook has already started his holdout. On Monday, ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted the following:

Pro-Bowl RB Dalvin Cook no longer will participate in any team-related activities until and unless he receives a “reasonable” deal, a source said Monday.

“He’s out,” a source told ESPN. “Without a reasonable extension, he will not be showing up for camp or beyond.”

If I want to nit-pick Schefter's news, the quote from the source says that a potential holdout starts with training camp. It says nothing about staying away from pre-camp team activities, virtual or otherwise. Despite that, I'm sure that Schefter's take is an accurate take. What's the point of talking a potential holdout now if Cook is continuing with team activities now?

As a Minnesota Vikings fan, I was pleased that Dalvin Cook was planning to take part in any team activities that were permitted during these wacky times. Many of the talking heads were honking about a potential holdout. Melvin Gordon did it. Ezekiel Elliott did it. With a year remaining on his rookie deal, Cook seemed to be ignoring the recent strategy of his running back peers and going about his team business. That no longer appears to be the case. It appears that Cook is going to use one of the few tools to gain leverage that players have available to them. A holdout.

Unfortunately for Cook, and any player that holds out, there's a new CBA in town. The daily fine for holding out has increased from $40,000 to $50,000. That's not much of a change. More restricting is this little nugget. The new CBA moves the deadline for losing a year of credit toward free agency from 30 days before the start of the regular season to the opening of camp. If Cook holds out a single day of training camp, his first shot at unrestricted free agency won't be next offseason. It'll be in 2022. The Vikings will be able to retain his rights for 2021 with a restricted free agency tender. That's a restrictive CBA change. No wonder so many players voted against it.

I don't see the negotiations between Cook and the Vikings getting that far. I think that something gets done before we see July. I'm so confident that something gets done that I wish that Cook and his representatives hadn't said the word "holdout." It only starts the honking from the talking heads and the crying from Vikings fans. Both reactions are so damn annoying.

The reasons that I'm so confident that a deal gets done is that I believe that the Vikings love Dalvin Cook. Mike Zimmer loves him as a football player, as a team leader, and as a person. Gary Kubiak loves him as a running back in his offense. I believe that Dalvin Cook loves the Vikings. Teams tore apart his character in the buildup to the 2017 NFL Draft. He should've been a top 10-15 draft pick. He tumbled into the second round because teams questioned him as a person. The Vikings didn't tear him apart. They built him up. They wanted him on the team. They didn't have a first round pick. They never passed on him. They traded up in the second round to insure that they got him. I believe that Cook loves the team that showed him love and respect. Basically, there's a lot of love going on here.

The Vikings see Dalvin Cook as a critical part of the franchise. As a running back. As a team leader. And as a Vikings representative in the community. Yes, I think that a deal gets done. I also think that a long-term deal gets done with safety Anthony Harris. I wouldn't be surprised if a Harris deal needs to get done before a Cook deal can be done. A long-term deal for Harris might be necessary to shake loose the cap room needed to fit in a new deal for Cook. Or, perhaps a new deal for Cook comes in the form of a contract extension with little change to his cap hit this year. Who knows? The Vikings' money juggling is in the capable hands of Rob Brzezinski. I do know that if a team and a player want to stick together there's always a way to make the numbers work. I truly believe that the Vikings and Dalvin Cook want to stick together.