Following the expected release of Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, the Denver Broncos are expected to be among Cook’s suitors.
So, how much will Cook cost, and can the Broncos afford him?
The highest-paid running backs by base salary are currently Nick Chubb ($10.85 million), Derrick Henry ($10.5 million) and Saquon Barkley ($10 million), suggesting that the market value salary for the NFL’s best RBs is about $10 million per season.
Before being released, Cook was set to have a base salary of $10.4 million this year, plus up to $600,000 in bonuses. Minnesota also has a little more than $3 million of a prorated signing bonus counting against the books in 2023.
Given the wear and tear and injuries that Cook sustained from his 1,503 touches in 73 career games, he seems unlikely to get another deal as rich as the one he had with the Vikings. Instead, a more realistic contract might be similar to what the Broncos gave Melvin Gordon in 2020: $16 million over two years ($8 million per season).
That would be about $2 million less than our rough estimate of a top RB’s market value, and that makes sense given that Cook will receive $2 million from Minnesota this season. So a rough guess has Cook landing in the $8 million-per-season range on his next deal. On a two-year contract, some of the salary cap hit could be pushed into 2024.
The Broncos currently have $10,134,047 in salary cap space, according to OverTheCap.com. If the team wants to sign Cook, restructuring the contracts of one or two other players would make it easier to do so.
It would take some creative contract structuring to make it work, but Denver could sign Cook. Now we wait to see if they will attempt to.
Story update: After this post was scheduled, the Broncos agreed to terms on a one-year deal with pass rusher Frank Clark that will include a $5.5 million salary in 2023. That deal will obviously make it harder to sign Cook, but Denver could still make it happen if the team restructures other contracts. Whether or not the team wants to do that remains to be seen.
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