The answer is...
"He has reeled off four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, during which he has scored 43 touchdowns and has averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
He has also added 170 catches for 1,399 receiving yards (8.2 yards per catch) and has scored three touchdowns receiving."
The correct question...
"Who is Dalvin Cook?"
Now a free agent, Cook wants to be paid "like one of the best backs in the league."
Can't see any problem with that — but apparently all of the NFL owners do, since Cook is still pounding the pavement so to speak.
And why aren't the Buccaneers showing any interest in Cook? (Right now, it is the three AFC East teams other than Buffalo who appear to be in the hopper.)
In 2022, Tampa Bay ranked dead last in the entire NFL in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. Talk about the triple crown of futility — and the team's depth chart at running back consists of two third-round draft picks (Rachaad White and Ke-Shawn Vaughn), a fourth-round pick (Chase Edmonds), and an undrafted free agent (Patrick Laird), meaning that if the Bucs sign Cook, he will have a starting job the minute he drives up to training camp — and they are the defending NFC South champions.
In recent decades, running backs have undergone a worse devaluation than the currency of some Global South country (no one says "Third World" anymore, as a consequence of the Cold War having ended more than 30 years ago — even though some people seem to have never received the memo).
This is because "football" has been in steady decline for 45 years — replaced by "PassBall."
The first slide down this slippery slope was, of course, the Mel Blount Rule, colloquially known as the "chuck rule," which outlawed essentially any contact between a defender and a receiver more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Then, when the owners went to work "protecting" the quarterbacks, the proverbial rout was on.
And how bad has the "rout" been?
In 1977 — the last year before this nonsense began — the typical NFL team actually gained more rushing yards per game (143.9) than passing yards (141.9).
By 1994, teams had rushed for 104.3 yards per game — the lowest figure ever recorded — while passing for 213.6 yards per game. The high-water mark for passing yards was reached in 2015, with 243.8 (the rushing average that year was 108.8).
And what about the competitive balance aspects of this? Should a team that doesn't have a Pro Bowl quarterback be condemned to perennial bottom-feeder status? And should such a team be tempted to tank games to get a "franchise quarterback" in the draft?
The playing field needs to be leveled so that run-oriented teams can compete — and once it is, the Dalvin Cooks of this world might actually get the money they deserve — and the money their positional predecessors got.
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