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Dalvin Cook: 5 Fantasy football replacements for Vikings RB

By Cody Williams

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 1: Dalvin Cook #33 of the Minnesota Vikings walks into the locker room after getting injured on a play in the third quarter of the game against the Detroit Lions on October 1, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 1: Dalvin Cook #33 of the Minnesota Vikings walks into the locker room after getting injured on a play in the third quarter of the game against the Detroit Lions on October 1, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook suffered a non-contact knee injury in Week 4, so who can you replace him with in fantasy football?

There is no such thing as a good injury, in the NFL or any sport. Even if it’s a ding that keeps a player out from doing his craft, it’s unfortunate. However, it always cuts exceptionally deep when circumstances play out in certain manners. One of the most gut-punching of these is when a young player is establishing their name in the league, but then get taken out due to a serious injury.

Sadly, that seems to be the case with Minnesota Vikings rookie running back Dalvin Cook. In the third quarter against the Detroit Lions on Sunday in Week 4, Cook went down with a non-contact knee injury that was bad enough that he abandoned the play and fumbled. He was taken out of the game, and numerous reports stated that the fear is that he has a torn ACL, though he’ll have an MRI on Monday to determine the exact extent of the damage.

Having said that, it appears the injury is serious. That’s downright crappy for him, for the Vikings and even for fantasy football owners, who Cook had been performing nicely for. Now owners are left for another option to replace the rookie. Let’s take a look at five replacement options for Dalvin Cook.

Note: All players listed have an ownership of under 50 percent on ESPN.com

5. Latavius Murray, Vikings

We’ll start with the replacement options by getting the most obvious one out of the way. Minnesota signed Latavius Murray this offseason prior to drafting Cook in the second round. Murray spent the first four years of his career with the Raiders before leaving on the open market. However, due to injuries for the veteran in the offseason and to the talent of Cook, the free-agent signing lost the starting job to Cook.

Murray has never been a particularly explosive player, nor has he been a player that’s ever been given too great of a workload. Even last season as the “featured” back in Oakland, he still only carried the ball 195 times, but averaged a nice 4.0 yards per carry and found the end zone 12 times. With Cook taking the No. 1 job in Minnesota, though, his work has been exceedingly limited with only 14 carries for 38 rushing yards.

Having said that, he’s most likely going to be the lead guy assuming the role that Cook was in. He doesn’t have the same upside as the rookie, but he’s a big guy that should find his way into the end zone relatively regularly. As such, he would be a solid add in this situation, but there’s also a good chance that some other savvy owners are already trying to snatch him up in the wake of the Cook news.

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