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Cook's Contract
Regardless of the value of Dalvin Cook's contract, unless we knuckle under to
him by over paying him with a long term deal, he's going to hold out to at least
the start of the 2020 season. Do you remember Adrian Peterson not playing
a single down in the pre-season? To be direct, in Dalvin's mind his
pre-season preparation does not require a training camp, which is flawed
reasoning, which is why so many hold-out running backs tend to have substandard
regular seasons(, which has nothing to do with long term earnings). In
other words, every player requires both training camp & prep during the
pre-season agenda.
At this juncture, the greatest asset that this franchise, it's management, it's
coaches, it's players, & it's true fans have in it's corner is ... ABSOLUTE INDIFFERENCE.
To a man, or woman ... absolutely everyone on the planet knew that this was coming
due to Jerry Jones "Poisoned Well"
which changed the NFL landscape last year. To be direct, the changes were
well overdue however ... in these recent insane changes ... the tail is now
clearly waging the dog. Unfortunately, Dalvin Cook & this Viking
franchise is now the beneficiary of those changes. The word indifference
is used here to understand our greatest negotiation position which is to say,
"We care ... but not that much". Of course, this is the position
of a facilitator, not a team mate, or Head Coach Mike Zimmer, or a bull goose loony
Viking Fan. A facilitator brings parties together but has no vested
interest either way. In other words, the facilitator cares about doing the
deal but not that much.
Now keep in mind that Dalvin Cook cannot win a Super Bowl on his own however
Dalvin Cook can lose any playoff contest on his own as margins for victory can
be razor thin. See Brent McClanahan's fumble on the 1 yard line in Super
Bowl XI, or Charlie West's kick off muff in Super Bowl IV ... & there are so
many many more. So as an organization, or part of it (fan), you best keep
your wits about you as rapid change is on foot. Said another way, as a
fan, I don't give a crap if Dalvin Cook plays for the Vikings in 2020, where to
a man, we have all resigned ourselves to that fact ... injured or couched.
What is clear is that his rookie contract in 2020 will vastly underpay him for
his potential services which means there is a definite fire under his hind
quarters. Let there be no mistake in that regard. Now let's not
forget, that if you know anything about this organization & it's history,
people like Zulgad are going to find a way to stick-in, then stab & then
twist the knife deeply into our back once again, as all this fodder presents
opportunity to develop mayhem which is the sole purpose of their existence.
To be direct, your either building ... or you are destroying everything around
you.
So, you might be wondering, what is this franchises greatest
"Good-Will-Offering" that was clearly presented for Dalvin Cook.
Well, unless you missed it, in 15 draft picks selected in 2020, they did not
draft a running back. In other words, this franchise wants to clearly keep
Dalvin as it's number one running back, where they want to offer their
negotiations in good faith. In other words, they wanted to put as much
negotiation Power into Dalvin's hands as they could because quite frankly he's
not in any sort of commanding position.
Which brings us to the negotiations & Dalvin's agent. At this
juncture, for his agent, it's important to control the narrative, which is
provided for him free & clear. There are 31 other very competitive
franchises, and their ilk, that would like nothing more than to destroy this
franchise, on their dime, which lies just beyond the purview of those
franchises. So of course the narrative now shifts to McCaffrey, Zeke
Elliot, La'Veon Bell, Derrick Henry where of course they conveniently forget
about Todd Gurley. The problem of course is that every one of these
contracts required either no thought (franchise tag) or are beyond insane.
McCaffrey does not have an "S" on his chest, so statistically his time
bomb is about to explode (See Adrian Peterson). Gurley's cap numbers,
combined with their recent trades have sent the Ram's into exile. Henry's
contract is only about leverage. The Jet's with La'Veon, are the Jet's ...
do we need to say more. Which leaves us with Jerry Jones & Zeke.
You cannot base anything upon one data point where the bet is that Zeke is
Jerry's next Emmitt Smith ... Good luck with that. This of course makes no
mention to the uncertainty of the future salary cap. In other words, it is
now time to start with a fresh new piece of
paper.
So, what does this franchise do? To be direct, give every available dime
(less buffers) to Dalvin to play the 2020 season with an option year to pay
Dalvin a 50% increase in 2021. This would allow the Vikings to either
trade him in 2021, to completely void 75% of his 2021 contract value, or to be
able to negotiate Dalvin's long term deal in 2021 having a clearer
understanding of the landscape. These numbers aren't set in stone however
it is paramount that this Viking Franchise change the game to repel all that
insanity. In other words, don't be afraid to call all of this what it
is. It's time to hold hard & develop true franchise leadership.
What is important to both Dalvin & this franchise is his future carrot,
& that has got to be painted as significant based upon both worth &
production.
To be direct, Dalvin's rookie contract, compared to his production is pitiful,
where he is due for a substantial pay increase. He could hold out the
entire year, or play a part year for his vesting his pension, but that would
just leave stupid money on the table. However, Dalvin & his agent need
to understand that his contract is like the end of Sam Bradford's rookie deal,
where the present insanity no longer fits the future ... for any running
back.
So what's the rub? Well, we've had to play without Dalvin services before
& we have already resigned ourselves to this eventuality. Of course
this is not something that is beneficial for either party which is why we wish
to amend his rookie deal to reflects his upcoming commitment & production
that is palatable for both parties. As every player knows ... money goes to
generating both commitment & production ... not to any one individual.
We agree that we want to pay you beyond your rookie deal however based upon the
landscape, we will require an additional year to determine our
commitments. After all, rookie deals are four year commitments ...
not three. It's just that simple.
The only question is ... will Dalvin be happy to play for just a significant pay
upgrade along with the chance at securing that long term carrot... or are we
looking at the next Brent McClanahan or Charlie West? If it's the later
... no thank you. However, Dalvin's actions, commitments & production
will be clearly in his court where it clearly belongs.
Now feast away ... Media Piranha!
The Viking Ghost Writer
http://MyVikingBlood.org
Date: June 10, 2020
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