4 RBs were drafted before Alvin Kamara

Dalvin Cook

The next running back taken ahead of Kamara in 2017 was Dalvin Cook out of Florida State. Cook was one player that seemed to be able to impact any team from day one. He was a crucial part of the Seminole’s offense from his freshman season and presented few negatives as a prospect. His stats spoke for themselves.

In just his freshman year of college, Cook had 1,008 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. He was an explosive runner with great acceleration, power, elusiveness, and explosiveness. These traits only seemed to get better throughout his college career. By his junior season, he had established himself as the go-to option. In 2016, Cook finished with 1,765 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns for the second season in a row.

Cook’s consistent ability to perform and strong character had him very high on many draft boards. The only real drawback that he seemed to have as a player was his odd habit of fumbling the ball. There were some concerns about his entourage and off-field relations as well. These two red flags were enough to drop him to the 41st pick of the draft, where the Minnesota Vikings gave him a chance.

Initially, Cook seemed to be paying off instantly. In his first four games of his rookie year, Cook had totaled 354 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The concerns about his fumbling habit had diminished because he only had one through those four games. Unfortunately, Cook would experience an ACL tear that would end his rookie year at four games. He was averaging 88.5 yards per game and was one of the leading rushers in the league at the time of his injury. 

In 2018, Cook was able to have more of a complete season. He was able to compete in 11 games and rush for 615 yards but he didn’t seem like the same player that began his rookie year. He only matched his number of rushing touchdowns in seven more games until he faced injury once again.

Cook definitely has the gifts to be a great player in this league. He has the physical ability and has managed to minimize the red flags that scouts identified with him. He is undoubtedly a high injury risk player, though. All of those gifts and potential are worthless if he continues to get injured.

Kamara has only missed one regular season game in his first two years and he has had no real injuries. It is a clear choice to say that Kamara would have been selected over Cook based off of that fact alone.