With mutual interest between Cook and Dolphins, here’s a key dynamic. And Hill’s thoughts
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Friday:
▪ Dalvin Cook is now officially a free agent — free to sign with any team after 4 p.m. Friday — and this is beginning to look like a situation where the market will dictate the Dolphins’ chances of landing the four-time Pro Bowl running back.
And the market potentially could work in the Dolphins’ favor.
The Denver Broncos — whom ESPN had reported as a likely Cook suitor — are not pursuing him at this time, longtime Broncos reporter Mike Klis said on Twitter.
The Jets could have interest. Jets coach Robert Saleh, asked about Cook, said: “We’ll turn the stones over on that one, but that’s probably more of a [general manager] Joe [Douglas] question. I’m not sure how the money works on that.”
For what it’s worth, Cook has been “liking” tweets from accounts of Dolphins and Jets fans who advocate signing him.
Often, if a team likes a player and a player likes a team — as is the case with Cook and the Dolphins — a deal can quickly be worked out.
But one big variable complicates this potential marriage: Money. The Dolphins, under general manager Chris Grier, don’t like to pay big money for running backs.
Grier also sometimes likes to allow the market to play out for players he likes. He waited a week to sign Braxton Berrios, a couple weeks to re-sign Andrew Van Ginkel and weeks before signing Robbie Chosen.
The Dolphins are interested in Cook, 27, but at their price. They spoke with the Vikings previously about a trade, but decided not to aggressively pursue it in part because of Cook’s contract that would have paid him $10.4 million.
As much as Cook would love to play here, he’s not looking to give the Dolphins a substantial hometown discount, according a source.
So the sense is that Cook might wait to see if a team surfaces that’s willing to pay him remotely close to what the Vikings would have paid him.
If that doesn’t happen, then the Dolphins would seemingly be in good position to land him, because both sides have interest.
Minnesota is paying him $2 million to leave. So Cook can afford to be patient. And unless Grier decides to make a really big offer out of the gate Friday, the Dolphins can take their chances waiting to see if Cook will come on their terms.
Cook underwent shoulder surgery Feb. 14 and is expected to be fine for the regular season.
▪ So how much are top running backs worth today?
In terms of average salary, 13 running backs are making $6 million or more annually if their contracts and bonuses are broken down into annual payments, per overthecap.com.
Nine are making $10 million or more a year.
Those nine: Christian McCaffrey ($16 million), Alvin Kamara ($15 million), Derrick Henry ($12.5 million), Nick Chubb ($12.2 million), Joe Mixon ($12 million), Aaron Jones ($11.5 million), Tony Pollard ($10.1 million), Josh Jacobs ($10.1 million), Saquon Barkley ($10.1 million).
Here are the four others making at least $6 million: David Montgomery ($6 million), Austin Ekeler ($6.1 million), Miles Sanders ($6.3 million), James Connor ($7 million).
Cook can justify asking for $10 million because has averaged more than 110 scrimmage yards per game during the past four seasons, second in the NFL behind only Derrick Henry. But that doesn’t mean a team will pay that.
▪ New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, on safety Jevon Holland: “Highly talented player, highly instinctive player, highly smart player, tough player, loves the game, there is nothing I don’t like about him.”
In brief comments Thursday, Fangio raised eyebrows when he said: “We have some really good talent at some places. In other places, we’ve got to find the talent.”
So what positions lacking in talent could he be talking about? My suspicion is defensive tackle (behind Raekwon Davis), safety (because Brandon Jones and DeShon Elliott have not participated in teams drills this offseason due to injury recoveries) and perhaps inside linebacker (with an injury keeping David Long Jr. out of team drills).
▪ Besides Fangio’s creativity, here’s another one of his qualities that players like:
“He’s one of those coaches that will sit down and explain every guy’s role what they got to do on every play and that’s all you can ask for as a linebacker,” Jerome Baker said. “You really just try to understand the defense and he really sits down and explains everybody’s role and how you can get better.
“You’ve got to be a smart player to play in this defense, but once you get it down and once you have an idea of what you’re doing it’s so fun playing. Just the different things we do, the different things we ask from guys, it’s definitely going to be fun, so I’m excited.”
Renaldo Hill, the Dolphins’ new passing game coordinator/secondary coach, said Fangio’s approach has “worked over time. He knows where the troubleshoots are at, he knows how the teams are trying to attack him. Vic is always not looking to stay stagnant. He’s always looking to what’s the next thing, what’s the next thing in the NFL. How it changes from our scheme, and how we can incorporate our scheme to make it better each year.”
Fangio noted that Hill is the only person on the Dolphins staff with whom he has worked; their time intersected when Fangio coached the Broncos.
▪ Tyreek Hill said Tua Tagovailoa has been “organizing workouts outside of the Miami Dolphins stadium. When I first got here, I said, ‘Bro, you should be comfortable with telling a group of wideouts to just meet you somewhere.’ We’re going to pull up regardless, so he’s been doing a great job.
“Tua has stepped up a lot in his leadership role. I know last year was my first year playing with him, but seeing him this year, he’s more vocal with the offense, leading and group chats and stuff like that.”
Hill appreciates what he has here: “I feel like I’ve got the right tools around me. I’ve got obviously the most accurate quarterback in the NFL. I’ve got one of the best head coaches in the NFL, and also my position coach [Wes Welker] is a monster also. So just having those three things, and me just keeping the same mind-set each and every day that I want to get better and I want to break the record” for receiving yards in a season.
▪ Quick stuff: Hill said: “I feel like we’re only going to go as far as our quarterback is going to take us.”... Robbie Chosen — formerly Robbie Anderson — said he would like to be called “Chosen” for reasons he declined to reveal. “I’m going by Robbie Chosen but you can call me Chosen. Appreciate it,” he said… Tagovailoa said Chosen is “really fast. He knows how to get the ball. He’s been getting the ball a good amount this OTAs. But he’s a really good player.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 2:29 PM.
