BEARS SCOUTING REPORT
VIKINGS RUNNING BACK DALVIN COOK
Information for this report was obtained from NFL scouts. Dalvin Cook, 5-foot-10, 210 pounds, is in his second season out of Florida State, selected 41st in 2017. Cook suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in Week 4 last season but has returned to form. He was slowed in the first half of the season by a hamstring injury but he’s playing well now and has benefited most from Mike Zimmer’s decision after Week 14 to fire offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and replace him with Kevin Stefanski with a mandate — run the ball.
Cook had a season-high 19 carries for a career-high 136 yards two weeks ago against the Dolphins and ran 16 times for 73 yards last week against the Lions. The Vikings will look to be more balanced against the Bears, who are second in the NFL allowing 81.1 rushing yards per game.
“Finally looks healthy,” a scout said. “Looks like the Dalvin Cook we saw before the knee injury, where he’s got high-level game speed, really good vision and he can get small through the hole. The question he answered last year before the knee injury and again now, he’s got the speed to bounce the ball to the edge. That was one of the knocks on him coming out of Florida State, that he didn’t have enough speed, he’s a 4.5 guy (4.49 seconds at NFL scouting combine) or something like that, not a home-run threat. But he had a 70-yard run against Detroit and he was flying down the field. He doesn’t have elite straight-line speed, but he’s got intermediate burst ability, so when he hits that edge and puts his foot in the ground, he can really scoot and get to top speed quickly, and that allows him to cut down angles in the secondary.
“Last week against Detroit he didn’t have the numbers he had two weeks ago but it was tough running yards. That’s what he is going to have to do against the Bears and have to do in the playoffs if they play the Bears again — be able to make something out of a 2-yard run and be able to push the pile and get 4 and then get 5 the next time.”