Dalvin Cook's Groin Injury Doesn't Appear to Be Serious

The Vikings' star running back seems to have avoided a major injury, but could still miss a game.

Vikings fans everywhere held their breath when Dalvin Cook came up limping after catching a pass early in the third quarter of Sunday night's loss to the Seahawks. Cook instantly grabbed the inside of his thigh and went straight to the locker room. After he tried to return to action, the decision was made to shut him down for the remainder of the evening.

Given Cook's lengthy injury history, it was reasonable to be concerned about the Vikings' star back missing more time. However, it appears that Cook avoided a serious injury and just has a minor adductor (groin) strain. "He's good," a source told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Cook got an MRI on Monday that "went pretty well," according to Mike Zimmer. "We'll see how he does this week," the Vikings coach added.

All in all, this is definitely good news for Cook and the Vikings. It doesn't appear that this is something that could potentially keep him out for a significant amount of time. With that said, there's certainly a chance Cook could miss this Sunday's game against the Falcons out of an abundance of caution. Even though they're 1-4, the Vikings should be able to beat the 0-5 Falcons at home with Alexander Mattison (who racked up 102 of his 136 yards from scrimmage after Cook left the game in Seattle) and Mike Boone as their running backs.

Update (10/13): Cook isn't expected to play this week against the Falcons, according to Chad Graff of The Athletic. The Vikings will "re-evaluate if he is ready to return" after the bye week.

The reason it might make sense for the Vikings to hold Cook out of the Falcons game is that the Vikings have a bye in Week 7 before a huge divisional game against the Packers in Green Bay on November 1st. If Cook doesn't play against Atlanta, he would have a full three weeks to get back to as close to 100 percent as possible for that game at Lambeau Field.

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