While the headlines will be dominated by Aaron Rodgers’ achilles injury, Monday night was also notable for Dalvin Cook, who played his first snaps for the New York Jets since leaving the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason.
The Vikings elected not to offer Cook a contract extension and cut him, preferring instead to move forward with Alexander Mattison as their RB1.
Cook meanwhile has joined a Jets team that contains former 1st-round pick Breece Hall, who has returned to the team after suffering from an ACL injury last season.
The Jets beat the Bills 22-16 on Monday Night Football and it was clear who the more explosive of the Jets running backs was – and it wasn’t Cook. Cook had 13 carries for 33 yards while Hall had 10 carries for 127 yards, including a long of 83 yards.
Cook, who also had three catches for 23 yards, had more carries and was expected to handle the bulk of the workload in Week 1 as the Jets ease Hall back into game form following his long absence from last season’s knee injury.
Pro Football Focus gave Cook a 62.7 running grade, which is well below his 2022 average of 72.4 when he led the Vikings with 1,288 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
If Rodgers misses the rest of the season and the quarterback play rests on the shoulders of Zach Wilson, that could mean the Jets try to win with a strong defense and running attack, which could mean a heavy dose of Cook and Hall going forward.
