Adrian Fedkiw
Running behind a shoddy Florida State offensive line in 2016, Dalvin Cook still produced big-time numbers.
Cook still ran for a ridiculous 1,765 yards and 19 touchdowns, while also catching 33 passes for 488 yards and a score. The versatile running back should be an instant contributor as a rookie. At about 210 pounds, I do believe he will have to add on a couple pounds at the pro level to increase durability, but will that effect his explosion?
Anyway, let’s check out the tape.
Strengths
Cook sets up his blocks extremely well and accelerates very quickly through the hole. He possess great vision, balance and jump cutting ability. He has the prowess to take it to the house on any given snap.
Cook runs low and using his thick lower body, he runs through contact when he gets a head of steam. He slices through arm tackles.
While Christian McCaffrey runs the best routes out of the running backs, Cook has the best hands. He’s also a reliable route runner.
Weaknesses
Cook does have a history of off-the-field issues and staying out of trouble is a concern some franchises have. Cook, while powerful in the lower body, is still rather small at less than 210 pounds. Does he have enough size to hold up and last in the NFL.
Most running backs don’t really know how to block coming out of college and Cook is certainly no exception.
Cook coughs the ball up too much for my liking, that’s something that he certainly needs to work on. He put the ball on the ground 13 times at Florida State.
Conclusion
I believe Cook would be a perfect fit for the Eagles at No. 14 given his versatility of not only being an elusive runner, but his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He reminds me of a bigger version of DeVonta Freeman, who was also a Florida State product.
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