When Dalvin Cook signed a one-year deal with the Jets this offseason, the thought was that the former All-Pro back could be the final piece of a championship puzzle.
But things haven’t quite panned out the way that Cook or the Jets have hoped, and the running back has become somewhat of an afterthought in New York's backfield.
“It’s obviously been a different situation for me to be in… coming where I come from and being productive in this league and not getting as many touches and stuff like that,” Cook said Thursday. “You just adjust. You adjust and you still sharpen your iron, and that’s what I do every day. … I just prepare the same way that I prepare every other year, so it’s still the same for me. Gameday’s just a little different.”
“Of course, it’s frustrating. I’m an honest person. I work, I want to play,” he said later. “That’s just anybody. Yeah, it’s frustrating because it’s new for me. I come from getting the ball 20 times a game or however many times. I come from that, but yeah, of course, it’s frustrating but it’s something that I’ve been adapting to.”
Cook received 13 carries in the Jets’ opener, but tallied just 33 yards on the ground. Since then, Cook had not received more than eight carries in any game, and his 2.8 yards per rushing attempt is easily the lowest of his seven-year career. In total, Cook has rushed 39 times for 109 yards in his six games as a Jet.
“There wasn’t an expectation of me getting X amount of carries or me doing anything, it was just ‘Come in and be productive.’ Things change and things happen, and we’re right here, right now today.” Cook said.
He later added: “The touches I get, I think I get what I need to get (yardage-wise). For me, if you watch my career and you know the type of back I am, I get better and better as the game goes, feeling the defense out. The more touches I get, the better the game goes, so just still kind of adjusting to that. But with the carries I get, I do what I can. I try to be explosive. Situational, I try to do what needs to be done, and that’s where we’re at.”
With Cook not seeing much time on the field, coupled with the fact that he hasn’t been productive when he has gotten touches, his name has started to appear in trade rumors as the Oct. 31 deadline approaches.
Cook said that he hasn’t asked general manager Joe Douglas for a trade, but did say he just wants what’s best for both sides.
“That’s something that I have to sit down and talk with my agent and [Douglas] about,” Cook said. “But for me, I’ll let the business side handle the business side. For me, I’ll be ready, man. Every do I got out there and I bust my ass, I do the things I need to do to be ready when my number’s called to go out there and perform.”
“It’s a different scenario for me… but it’s something I can’t control, that my name is being floated around in trade rumors,” he added. “It might be a good thing, it might be a bad thing, you never know.”
Cook’s first six games in New York haven’t been up to par with his typical production, but the 28-year-old believes his past body of work speaks for itself, and he still continues to prepare to be the best that he can be whenever he takes the field.
“Whenever those carries come my way, I’m going to be ready to explode and be ready to be Dalvin. I’m me, man,” Cook said. “When the time comes, I’m going to be me and I’m going to be ready to go.”
