Doug Pederson Liked Dalvin Cook in Draft, Sounds Frustrated with Sidney Jones

Eagles Head Coach Said Team was Close to Pulling Trigger on Drafting Vikings RB, Appears Annoyed by Jones' Inability to Stay Healthy

Ah, what could have been had Dalvin Cook still been sitting on the draft board back when the Eagles hit the clock during the 2017 NFL Draft.

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson made it sound on Wednesday like the organization would have taken Cook still been available when the Eagles arrived on the clock in the second round with pick No. 43.

Cook almost made it to No. 43, except the Minnesota Vikings outmaneuvered the Eagles, trading up seven spots to get to the No. 41 spot in the draft, which had been owned by the Cincinnati Bengals. The Vikings sent the Bengals their 48th overall pick and a fourth-round selection, pick No. 128.

“I just remember going back and watching him coming out in the draft and studying him a little bit,” said Pederson. “I really liked his explosiveness with the ball in his hands, but he could also catch the ball out of the backfield. There were a lot of explosive plays on his tape. I was real comfortable with him. We were close to pulling the trigger on that.”

The Eagles will face Cook for the first time since he was drafted two years ago when the two teams meet in Minnesota at 1 p.m. (FOX) on Sunday.

Though the Eagles and Vikings played each other in the 2017 NFC Championship Game and last year during a regular season game at Lincoln Financial Field, Cook did not dress.

In 2017, he played four games before tearing an ACL. Last year, he missed five games as he battled a hamstring injury.

Cook, who is second in the league in rushing with 542 yards while averaging a league-best 5.9 yards per carry, was considered a first-round talent coming out Florida State, but there were some off the field red flags that had him drop into the second round.

The Eagles needed a running back, and 2017 was considered a historically deep collection of them. And the experts weren’t wrong as many running backs from that class have flourished - except for the one the Eagles ended up taking as the Cook consolation prize.

The Eagles ended up trading up in the fourth round to grab the NCAA’s all-time rushing yards leader, San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey.

Pumphrey never played an NFL down and is already out of the league.

With Cook off the board, the Eagles ended up selecting cornerback Sidney Jones, who was also considered a first-round talent but had torn an Achilles during a pro day leading up to the draft.

Jones has had trouble staying healthy after spending all but the final game of his rookie season rehabbing his Achilles. He had a good training camp this past summer, but suffered another hamstring injury against the Green Bay Packers in a Thursday night game and dressed but did not play in Sunday’s 31-6 win over the New York Jets.

Jones missed seven games with a hamstring injury last year.

Pederson sounded a bit exasperated at Jones’ inability to remain healthy and stay on the field.

“From a player’s standpoint you sort of have to break through that (pain) threshold, you have to push yourself through that and feel that level of comfort as an athlete,” said Pederson. “We monitor these guys every day with the amount of running and conditioning, sometimes it’s even extra conditioning for guys as they are healthy and can do that just to stay on top of this stuff.

Asked what he means by that threshold, Pederson added: “I think sometimes with an injury, I don’t care what type of injury you get to that point where, through your rehab and conditioning, you have to push yourself and you have to bust through and say ‘OK, I feel good.’

“And it still might be a little sore, but I feel good. That’s kind of what I mean by that, that threshold where you can kind of break through the glass and you’re on the other side of it and once you get to that point all the mental stuff goes away and now you can just focus on ball again.”

Jones was limited in practice last week, and may be ready to do more this week or maybe not.

One things Pederson is aware of when it comes to Jones is the corner’s confidence level.

“It’s something we have to keep in mind, because you don’t want the player in this case, Sidney, focused on the injury because then it doesn’t allow him to play or play fast,” said Pederson. “So we have to make sure, and he has to make sure, that he’s 100 percent before we put him back out there so he can be confident in his ability.”

Cook is certainly growing in his confidence level, and that is something the Eagles will need to be wary of on Sunday.