The June 1 trigger date for any Dalvin Cook move is less than 24 hours away and reports are continuing to come out that the Vikings are still viewing a trade as the preferred option.
“Teams around the league believe that the Vikings, if they do move on from Cook, would prefer to trade him, than release him, to get some value out of him,” said ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on SportsCenter Wednesday morning.
“If they wait till June to trade him they save $11 million on that salary cap,” Fowler continued. “That’s why they’ve been comfortable, at least until now, to hold on to his salary cap number, and his big salary, and see what shakes out with some other teams who could get involved.”
The Vikings have had the option all offseason to move on from Cook, but a post-June 1 cut or trade comes with a far cheaper cap hit and more cap savings, according to Over The Cap.
If the Vikings were to trade Cook after June 1, they only incur a $3.1 million dead cap hit as well as save $11 million on the cap, making it, by far, their best option.
Cutting the 28-year old running back after June 1 leaves the Vikings with a $5.1 million dead cap hit, and creates $9 million in cap savings.
Even if it is just a seventh-round pick for Cook, the Vikings would be saving a whopping $11 million against the cap which would give them around $20 million to work with. (Maybe, for a possible Justin Jefferson extension?)
“He’s been linked to Miami. There’s some other teams like Denver and the New York Jets who have had their star running backs coming off ACLs, maybe they get involved and try to get a top running back,” Fowler said.
