Fresh off the Jets, Cook signs up for playoffs
The Ravens’ backfield got a potential boost a little more than two weeks before the team begins its quest for a Super Bowl title.
Free agent running back Dalvin Cook is signing with the Ravens’ practice squad, his agent confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Thursday. The move comes after Cook parted ways with the Jets on Tuesday following less than a year in New York and went unclaimed on waivers Thursday.
Baltimore was one of at least two teams interested in the four-time Pro Bowl selection, including the Dallas Cowboys.
The signing comes after the Ravens (13-3) lost running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in Week 1 and rookie Keaton Mitchell to a torn ACL last month. ESPN was first to report the move.
Gus Edwards (762 rushing yards, 13 touchdowns) and Justice Hill (387 yards, 3 TDs) have received the bulk of the carries in recent weeks behind quarterback and NFL Most Valuable Player Award favorite Lamar Jackson, the team’s leading rusher with 821 yards and five scores. Melvin Gordon III (63 yards on 19 carries), a two-time Pro Bowl selection, also had six carries for 10 yards and a touchdown after being promoted from the practice squad in Sunday’s 56-19 win over the Miami Dolphins that clinched the top seed in the AFC, the first-round bye and home-field advantage through the conference championship game.
Cook, 28, signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Jets this summer after the arrival of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers as something of an insurance policy for Breece Hall, who was coming off a torn ACL. But Hall ended up being largely healthy, playing in 16 games, and Cook, a 2017 second-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings, never got his footing in New York, rushing for just 214 yards on 67 carries with no touchdowns.
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With the Jets, Cook averaged just under 4.8 carries per game and 3.2 yards per carry, easily the lowest mark of his career, and played only 202 snaps on offense, his lowest tally since his injury-shortened rookie year.
Week 1 was the only time that he received double-digit carries in New York, and after playing 50% of the offensive snaps in the opener, he played no more than 36% the rest of the way. That eventually led to Cook saying a lack of touches was “frustrating” and that he would speak to general manager Joe Douglas about a potential trade, though no deal materialized before the Oct. 31 deadline.
Before signing with the Jets, Cook spent the first six years of his career with Minnesota, where he rushed for 6,165 yards and 49 touchdowns in the regular season and playoffs and topped the 1,000-yard mark four straight seasons from 2019 to 2022.
His best season came in 2020, when he ran for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns during the regular season, both career highs. He is also an adept receiver out of the backfield, with 251 catches for 1,926 yards and five touchdowns in his career, including the postseason.
Cook will forfeit the remaining guaranteed money on his contract for the move to take place, according to multiple reports. His deal called for a guaranteed $5.8 million salary this year, per Over The Cap.
The Ravens host the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7) in Saturday afternoon’s regular-season finale.