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Dave Hyde: There’s a better way for Dolphins to improve running game than Dalvin Cook

dave hyde, south florida sun-sentinel
·4 min read

Dalvin Cook cared a lot more about the Miami Dolphins than they cared about him.

Now the newest New York Jet will care more about playing the Dolphins than they will ever care about playing him.

That’s how it works sometimes, and if you’re the Dolphins you’re fine with that. General manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel decided as much weeks ago. Cook batted eyelashes from across the room at his hometown team for weeks before giving up.

“A perfect fit,’’ Cook called the Dolphins for him at one point.

You don’t sign players just to keep them from other teams. Running back wasn’t a priority for the Dolphins. Cornerback is after this training camp. Offensive line is, just as it is most places. Defensive line is, if you listen to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Sure, they need to improve their running game on an offense that was one-dimensional last year. But the way to improve it has a much simpler solution than signing another running back like Cook.

Run the ball more.

That’s it. That was the problem last season. Not the backs. Not the offensive line — for as questioned as it was. The Dolphins ranked 31st in rushing attempts, just four more than Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense. That’s the kind of imbalance that says receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle didn’t just mesmerize opposing defenses. They had the same affect on their play-calling coach, too. He relied on them too much.

McDaniel needs to balance that imbalance this year. You don’t score running the ball in today’s NFL. But you can help keep control of a game. You can help your defense. You can help your quarterback and offensive line. There’s a lot the Dolphins need to do with what’s essentially the same players to help a pass-happy offense that defenses have spent an offseason studying.

Signing Cook wasn’t part of that need. Raheem Mostert (4.9 yards a carry) and Jeff Wilson (4.7) averaged more on runs last year than Cook, who had a career-low 4.4-yard average in Minnesota. That doesn’t mean Mostert and Wilson have had the career of Cook. It mans the difference between them is negligible at this point.

Cook has run for 1,000 yards each of the past four years. He can catch the ball, too. The Jets might have hit gold in him for a year. He’s also 27, his numbers are trending down the last two years and he ranked fifth in the league with 30.6 percent of his runs going for no yardage. So they probably just got another back in him.

The concern is the years wearing down Cook. The Dolphins normally don’t fear wear-and-tear on a player. They invested big in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, tackle Terron Armstead and edge rusher Bradley Chubb despite a history of injuries. They went out and got cornerback Jaylen Ramsey, who missed little time in seven seasons. It’s bad luck Ramsey hurt his knee in training camp. It’s also the common football story of a player with a lot of mileage on his body. That’s Cook’s story, too.

Here’s the equally telling stat on why the Dolphins passed on Cook: They can pay Jeff Wilson ($3 million), Raheem Mostert ($2.8M), Salvon Ahmed ($1.45 M) and rookie Devon Achane ($988,000) what the Jets could end up paying Cook ($8.3M) this season. So they get a collection of relatively equal running backs for the price of Cook.

You see why running backs seem so interchangeable? Why teams are taking that running back money and giving it to other positions? There are 17 receivers and eight guards making more than Christian McCaffrey, the highest-paid running back at $16 million. That’s a statement of what’s valuable in today’s NFL.

The Jets needed a running back, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers left money to sign Cook. He’s a better addition for the Jets than more worn Ezekiel Elliott is for the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick might just be kicking the tires here. Elliott averaged just 3.9 yards per carry for Dallas last year, the worst among 51 running backs with at least 100 touches.

None of this changes the idea that Cook isn’t a necessary answer if the Dolphins want to improve their running offense. McDaniel is. He has to decide he actually wants to run the ball this season.