NY Jets’ Dalvin Cook unhappy with current role: ‘I want to play’

The New York Jets signed Dalvin Cook to a one-year, $7 million contract in the offseason

One of the New York Jets’ biggest free agent signings isn’t happy with his current role with the team. Speaking to the media on Thursday, running back Dalvin Cook alluded to the unhappiness with his current usage on the Jets.

The former Minnesota Vikings running back called his current role with the Jets “frustrating.” He also assumed that his role would be different when he first signed with the team back in August.

#Jets RB Dalvin Cook says “I want to play” and “I want the situation to be best for both sides.”

“Of course it’s frustrating,” his current role.

It doesn’t sound like he’s ok with usage. He expected it to be a split between him & Breece Hall. Instead, he’s been fazed out. pic.twitter.com/mOVM3uzzh3

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) October 26, 2023

After seeing 13 carries in the Jets’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills, Cook has yet to see another game where he’s handled the ball more than eight times. He saw a season-low three carries in the Jets’ most recent game against Philadelphia. Most of that is likely due to the re-emergence of second-year running back Breece Hall.

Hall tore his ACL in Week 7 last season, and few thought that Hall would be up to speed less than halfway through the 2023 season. Yet the Iowa State product is running with incredible efficiency, averaging a league-leading 6.5 yards per carry.

Despite the efficiency of Hall, Cook believes that giving him more carries will increase his own efficiency for the team. The seventh-year veteran is posting career-low rushing metrics across the board, averaging a paltry 2.8 yards per carry.

While Cook hasn’t outright asked to be traded from the Jets, it seems like it’s an option he’s interested in exploring if he isn’t given more opportunity.

Dalvin Cook is saying that’s hard for him to get going when he’s only getting a few carries and that he’s shown in his career that he gets better the more carries he gets. Said his YPC average is down bc he’s not getting a lot of carries.

About the idea of getting traded, said…

— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 26, 2023

The comments come days after Robert Saleh defended the new Jets’ running back, saying that Cook was “heating up.”

“If you really look at it and you say, ‘OK, [Dalvin] needs about four weeks of acclimation,’ that puts you around Week 5, which is Philadelphia,” proclaimed Saleh before Wednesday’s practice. “Where you start seeing him hit his top speeds, and his GPS numbers are improving.”

On its face, it’s hard to see Cook’s point. Considering how well Hall played last year and has been playing this year, it should come as no surprise that he’s seeing the bulk of the Jets’ carries. Maybe the transition to being a backup is something that Cook isn’t ready to deal with, and it’s something coach Saleh described as a “really tough” transition.

Cook has been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. While that’s highly unlikely to happen given his production, age, and salary, anything can happen with Joe Douglas under the helm.

It doesn’t seem like #Jets RB Dalvin Cook has had trade conversations with his agent or GM Joe Douglas yet but it didn’t sound like something he would be opposed to either 🤷🏽 ‘I can’t control that my name [is] being floated around in trade rumors, might be a good thing, might be… pic.twitter.com/RP9sCW81fz

— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) October 26, 2023