FOXBORO — The Patriots have one other “unique” alternative so as to add a Pro Bowl-caliber playmaker after lacking out on broad receiver DeAndre Hopkins earlier this offseason.
Running again Dalvin Cook was launched by the Minnesota Vikings two weeks after Hopkins was reduce by the Arizona Cardinals. Hopkins caught on with the Tennessee Titans final week, however Cook remains to be accessible as a free agent.
Head coach Bill Belichick’s right-hand man within the entrance workplace, director of participant personnel Matt Groh, was requested Wednesday after the primary day of coaching camp whether or not he believes including Cook remains to be a chance.
“We talked to DeAndre Hopkins, that’s well known,” Groh mentioned. “We discover as many choices as we will. Dalvin’s one other participant, this can be a actually, actually distinctive state of affairs with each of those gamers. You don’t usually have gamers of this caliber accessible right now. The contracts which can be signed for gamers proper now are nowhere close to within the neighborhood of the contracts that these gamers are typically anticipating to signal.
“Usually, these are all minimum guys with splits. So this is a unique situation and any unique situation, I think everybody evaluates and looks at, you know, with Dalvin. And we saw firsthand last year going off to Minnesota on Thanksgiving. It was great to spend Thanksgiving in Minnesota. We saw firsthand what he can do.”
Cook didn’t precisely have the very best efficiency in that Week 11 Patriots win, carrying the ball 22 instances for 42 yards and catching 4 passes for 14 yards. He did make his fourth straight Pro Bowl final season whereas selecting up 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns on 264 carries with 39 catches for 295 yards with two scores as a pass-catcher.
The Patriots hosted free-agent operating backs Leonard Fournette and Darrell Henderson on visits final week however didn’t signal both participant instantly. They crammed their roster this week by signing linebacker Diego Fagot and broad receiver Jalen Hurd.
The group may use one other skilled operating again to share the backfield with Rhamondre Stevenson. Currently, the Patriots have 2022 draft picks Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris, hybrid operating again/broad receiver Ty Montgomery and J.J. Taylor behind Stevenson on the operating again depth chart.
An ex-girlfriend of Cook, Gracelyn Trimble, sued the operating again in November 2021, alleging him of assault, battery and false imprisonment. Cook filed a counterclaim towards Trimble alleging her of defamation. The civil case is ongoing.
The Patriots had been additionally finalists to signal Hopkins earlier than shedding the All-Pro wideout to the Titans.
“We explore every option that’s out there,” Groh mentioned. “DeAndre grew to become accessible fairly early on within the spring; clearly there have been stories even earlier than he was launched.
“Spent time working on it. We exhaust every option. We had him in here, talked to him. … I know we were one of the teams mentioned that was most prevalent, but we exhausted our options and did what we thought made the most sense.”
The Patriots would want to open a spot on their roster in the event that they needed to signal Cook.
Source: www.bostonherald.com