With Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook having a great start to 2019, let’s take a look into what is becoming a historic start to his third NFL year.
Coming into the season, not too many people around the NFL expected the best running back through three weeks of 2019 to be on the Minnesota Vikings. But entering Week 4, Vikings young running back Dalvin Cook is near or right at the top of the league in terms of production.
Cook, a 24-year old back who is in his third season in the league after being drafted by Minnesota with the 41st overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, has kicked off the 2019 campaign back to being healthy out of the backfield. In return, he has put together a very impressive showing for his team thus far.
While helping Minnesota improve to 2-1 on the season with a 34-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders in Week 3, Cook has put the rest of the NFL on notice of his abilities while beginning the year on a historic start.
Just how historic has the start to the year been for the new face of the Vikings offense? Historic enough to put him in some elite company among both franchise and league lists.
In Sunday’s win over the Raiders, Cook tallied a game-best 110 rushing yards and one touchdown on 16 total carries for Minnesota, averaging 6.9 yards per run while grabbing a game-long rush of 25 yards. He also finished the contest with 33 yards receiving on four catches out of the backfield.
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That stellar performance comes ahead of Cook finishing with a season-high 154 yards and one touchdown rushing on 20 attempts in a Week 2 loss to the Green Bay Packers, as well as adding 111 yards and two touchdowns running the ball on 21 carries in the season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons a few weeks ago.
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The Week 3 performance for Cook marked the third consecutive game of 100-plus rushing yards for the young power back, which is the longest such streak of his three-year career. Cook also became the first Vikings player in franchise history to open a season with three games of 100 yards rushing or more.
His total of 375 yards rushing through three contests to start the season is the second-highest total in franchise history to start a year, trailing only Adrian Peterson‘s 392 yards to begin the 2010 campaign. Overall, Cook has combined for a total of 454 yards from scrimmage entering Week 4, which is also the fifth-highest total in Vikings franchise history to begin a season.
If all of that isn’t impressive enough, Cook has also joined some elite company in the league among some all-time NFL greats through three weeks of action.
With three straight games consisting of at least 110 rushing yards and one touchdown in each of the contests fo Minnesota, Cook is the fifth player in league history to accomplish that feat. The four other players to record such performances to start the year before Cook are Jim Brown (1958), Curtis Martin (2004), O.J. Simpson (1975) and Emmitt Smith (1995), all four of whom are Hall of Famers.
Entering Week 4 against the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Chicago, Cook leads the NFL in rushing yards (375), with Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey (318 yards) as the only other back in the league with more than 300 rushing yards on the season behind him in second. Cook is also tied for second in the league in touchdowns (four), tied for third in first downs obtained (14) and fourth in rushing attempts (57).
Cook has been off to a stellar and even historic season thus far, while quickly becoming the focal point of the Vikings offense nearing the quarter-mark fo the regular-season schedule.
If Cook is able to stay healthy for a full season — which has been an issue for him throughout his career thus far — while continuing to play at this pace, we might continue to see Cook join elite company both among Minnesota franchise and NFL lists.