Kelly: A Multi-Year Deal For Dalvin Cook Needs To Be What Dolphins Offer

The Miami Dolphins don’t need Dalvin Cook.

The 25th-ranked run game likely will improve since everyone is entering the second season in this offense, so the understanding and execution should turn up a decibel if injuries don’t ravish the offensive line.

Talent wise, the Dolphins are a team worthy of being ain AFC wild-card team. Maybe they’ll push for AFC East supremacy, jockeying to surpass the Buffalo Bills and hold off the New New York Jets.

The season should has a positive outlook with the roster, as is.

But add Cook to this offense and the Dolphins enter the stratosphere of the NFL elites.

Add Cook, a four-time Pro Bowl selection who has rushed for 1,100 or more yards for four straight seasons, and Miami enters the Super Bowl conversation.

If injuries don't decimate the team’s top shelf of talent, and Vic Fangio transforms Miami’s defense into a top 10 unit, the Dolphins would be right up there with the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles when it comes to talent, and expectations.

And Miami has added a ton of talent while all four of those teams took veteran losses during the offseason.

So let me chip away at some of the anti-Cook argument

IS THE MONEY ASK TOO HIGH?

If Cook had been released before June, back when teams had cap space and didn’t draft younger, cheaper talent, Cook likely would have landed one of the biggest tailback deals this offseason because of his past production and age (turns 28 in August).

During his conversation with the NFL Network, Cook admitted he's looking for a team to show him that level of respect.

That is why a two- or three-year deal, one that provides Cook injury protection is what I’d be putting on the table to separate myself from those other suitors.

I'd offer a contract that potentially pays Cook $6 million a season for two years, with the third year being voidable.

Keep in mind Miami signed Chase Edmonds to a two-year deal worth $12 million last offseason, and at that time he was a backup in Arizona. So to suggest a three-year, $16 million offer, which features a $5 million signing bonus, $1.1 million as base salary in 2023, and $3 million guaranteed for injury in 2024 isn’t fair is disrespectful.

Remember, the Dolphins signed Cedrick Wilson Jr. to a three-year deal worth $21 million last offseason when he was a backup receiver elevated by injuries in Dallas. That’s right, the Dolphins are paying the team's fifth receiver $7 million, of which $5 million is guaranteed, this season.

So complaining about offering Cook a three-year deal for less money than Wilson got is pointless.

WHO IS COOK'S PRESENCE HURTING?

If Cook is signed, then he’d likely become the Dolphins' lead back, and Salvon Ahmed and Myles Gaskin become expendable.

If released or traded, those two tailbacks create $2.4 million in cap savings.

Cook, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. likely would become the front-line tailbacks unless Mostert or Wilson are traded away to a tailback-needy team, which is possible.

The player whose status Cook’s addition negatively would impact would be De’Von Achane, the speedster from Texas A&M Miami drafted in the third round.

While head coach Mike McDaniel seemed extremely excited about Achane's addition on draft day, there has been a running theme coming from all the 2023 rookies. They’ve all admitted Miami’s playbook, schemes and concepts were extremely difficult to grasp in their first season.

That doesn’t mean every position or player would be stifled by how challenging the learning process is. But it does hint that expecting Achane to contribute right away as a full-fledged starter might be unrealistic.

As for the use of the available cap space, would I want a player who complains about adding player that makes Miami incrementally better? The Dolphins already are $32 million over the cap for 2024, so worry about next season when it arrives.

Miami should be taking an all-in approach to this season, and signing Cook is an all-in move.

IS COOK AN OFFENSIVE FIT?

Some people are scared off by the belief/theory that Cook, who averaged 17.8 touches last season, wants to continue to be a featured back, and point out the system McDaniel comes from doesn’t utilized featured backs.

That’s baloney considering Terrell Davis was Mike Shanahan's featured back when the Denver Broncos team McDaniel started with as an intern won the Super Bowl. McDaniel wasn't part of those teams, but they forged the Shanahan legacy.

Arian Foster was Houston’s featured back for Shanahan protege Gary Kubiak, who gave McDaniel his first offensive assistant role with the Texans.

This same offense was actually run in Minnesota when Kubiak was the offensive coordinator during the 2020 season, which happened to be Cook's best NFL season, seeing how he ran for 1,557 yards and scored 16 touchdowns.

So saying Cook doesn't work in this offense is ridiculous.

Also, last year the San Francisco 49ers — the organization McDaniel came from —traded for Christian McCaffrey at the midseason point and instantly made him the featured weapon. McCaffrey led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game.

What I’m saying is that the tailback platoon utilized by this offense often isn’t always by design. It’s a byproduct of the talent at the team’s disposal. Exceptions are made for exceptional talents, and Cook’s track record shows that he’s one of the NFL’s top 5-7 tailbacks.

THE VISION FOR COOK

Just imagine what can happen to a Tua Tagovailoa-led offense that features Jaylen Waddle as the flanker, Robbie Chosen as the split end, Tyreek Hill as the slot weapon, and then has Cook coming out the backfield.

Opposing defenses wouldn't dare put eight men in the box against that offense, and it would probably be six in the box for most snaps because only an irresponsible defensive coordinator wouldn’t leave a safety deep fearing the deep ball throw from Tagovailoa, the quarterback who delivered the most big passing plays in the NFL in 2022.

My point is that with Cook in the Dolphins backfield, Miami likely would possess the NFL’s most feared offensive weaponry.

Can you imagine the production Cook could get from a simple check-down pass where he's got just one linebacker to beat? Add that up then multiple it by three or four times a game.

Eventually Cook's presence would force defenses to creep up, and his ability to close out games with his 4.7 yards per carry rush average would benefit the Dolphins defense.

Add Cook and everyone is cooking. McDaniel's play calls are better. Fangio's defense is probably more respected, and often has a lead. And Hill and Waddle might get singled more often.

Those are the reasons Miami should use half of the team’s remaining cap space to sign Cook to a respectable multi-year deal, keeping him off the New York Jets, or another AFC team jockeying to become relevant.

Miami can be good without Cook.

The Dolphins could become great with him.