The 2018 season has been an injury-riddled nightmare for Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook. After two underwhelming performances to start the season, Cook missed five of the next six games with a lingering hamstring injury. To the surprise of many, Cook made his return to the field one game before his bye week, recording 89 yards on 10 carries to go along with 20 yards on four carries. What does this performance mean for Cooks’ value moving forward, and how does his return affect your fantasy team?

Fantasy Football: What to Expect From Dalvin Cook Moving Forward

The Good

Cooks’ final stat line obviously looks amazing. He averaged 8.9 yards per carry and was regularly targeted in the passing game. However, a box score can only tell you so much. Let’s take a look into the good and bad behind Cook’s return to the lineup.

The best play he made was obviously his 70-yard run early in the second quarter. Starting on their own 25, Cook took the first-down handoff and burst through the line for a massive gain and easily his best play of the season. While the run blocking was good, this run showed that Cook still has the tools that make him such a special player when healthy.

Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Cook reached a top speed of 22.09 miles per hour, the fastest speed of any ball carrier this season. That fact that Cook was able to accomplish this feat the very day he comes back from a hamstring injury shows that he’s feeling rested, healthy, and ready to go the rest of the season. If his hamstring injury is still bothering him, it’s not enough to slow him down in short bursts.

Welcome back, Dalvin Cook!@dalvincook reached a top speed of 22.07 MPH on his 70-yard run in the 2nd quarter against the Lions. This is now the fastest speed reached by a ball carrier this season.#DETvsMIN #Skol pic.twitter.com/jvED2FHJSR — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 4, 2018

Additionally, Cook also saw some action in the passing game. While his 20 yards was fairly insignificant, he also saw four targets in limited action. While he’ll never be a receiving back a la Alvin Kamara, the fact that he’s catching passes at all adds value to his game, especially in PPR formats. Seeing as Latavius Murray only saw one reception, the Vikings probably view Cook as the closest thing to a receiving back on the roster.

The Bad

As great as Cook’s final stat line looks, it doesn’t have the same glow if you remove the 70-yard breakaway run. On his other nine carries, Cook recorded just 19 yards, good for an underwhelming 2.1 yards per carry. Needless to say, that is not a good thing and a real cause for concern moving forward.

Additionally, he was not the feature back. Both he and Latavius Murray received 10 carries on the night. While Murry only recorded 31 yards on his ten carries, some might worry about Cook and Murray evenly splitting carries. That said, Cook was returning from injury so the Vikings probably didn’t want to put too much on his plate. Keep an eye on the snap count moving forward, but right now this isn’t something to worry about.

The Final Verdict

Ultimately, there was a lot more good than bad from Dalvin Cook’s return. He showed that he still had elite speed on his 70-yard run and he’s slowly being integrated into the passing game. Cook is entering his bye week, so he should have plenty of time to rest up from any bruises and be full-go for Week 11.

However, it wasn’t all perfect. Cook averaged 2.1 yards per carry when excluding his 70-yard run, which is a slight concern. Even before his hamstring injury, Cook struggled to consistently put up yards behind Minnesota’s offensive line.

Additionally, Murray and Cook split carries evenly. While there is some reason to be worried about this workload division, your concern should be minimal. This was Cooks first game back and the Vikings probably didn’t want to throw too much at him at once. As Cook gets healthier, he should get more and more looks in the backfield.

Ultimately, this game was finally a sign of hope for Dalvin Cook fantasy owners. If you have a strong stable of running backs, it’s probably best to for Cook to have one more good game before inserting him into your lineup. However, if your running back depth is weak, you should be able to insert Cook into your starting lineup with minimal worry.

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