I'm not saying it's a morally bad thing or it's the wrong decision by the Vikings.

Modern NFL history has proven time and time again that giving a running back a massive contract is just not an effective move for teambuilding. Bell cow RBs in the NFL have a pretty well-defined shelf life before they start breaking down, and Cook is nearing that point. Additionally, you can go out and find really good replacement RBs with low-capital draft picks and have an effective running game off of a committee of non-star RBs. It's just too fungible of a position for it to ever make sense to commit long-term to star RBs.

And with Dalvin particularly, he hasn't been able to stay fully healthy for a full season practically his entire career. For what it's worth, I do believe releasing him (or trading him) is the right decision for the franchise.

But that doesn't make it not crazy that a 27 year old running back-- a player who is one of the biggest stars at his position in the league-- who has averaged 110 total yards and almost a touchdown per game over the last four seasons is about to just be released from his team for nothing.

Edit: I do not have time to visit every comment, but a lot of people in the comments are missing my point. I understand he has no trade value, I understand he cost a lot, I understand that cutting him was the right move here. I say as much above. I don't think this was some great injustice to Dalvin or a tactical error by the Vikings FO.

My point is that a (mostly) healthy 27 year star running back with four good to elite seasons in the last four years just has zero interest league-wide, including his current team. There is not another position in football that the same could ever be even remotely true. This is a commentary on the state of the running back position in the NFL and how devaluated-- for good reason-- the position has become.