If you expected there to be any awkwardness in the New York Jets locker room among the running back group after the team signed Dalvin Cook, you might be a little disappointed.
Just one day after Michael Carter suggested to reporters that the Jets didn’t need Cook because he and Breece Hall are fully capable of carrying the load, Cook agreed to a one-year, $8.6 million deal with the team, and suddenly New York’s running back duo were backtracking on their criticism of changing the RB room’s dynamic.
“The room that we have right now, it’s nuts,” Carter said, via ESPN. “You can’t get this [many good RBs] on Madden.”
“He’s just another great guy we’re adding to the room,” Hall added, via SNY. “It’s going to be a good competition, it’s going bring the best out of everybody. When he comes in all of our reps might get lessened and we’re going to have to work him in, so it’s going make us do the most of what we can with our reps, so it’s going be fun. He’s going to come in, he’s going challenge us, we’re going to challenge ourselves and we’re going to challenge him as well.”
While Carter may fully believe he and Hall are “great players too,” there’s no question that adding a player of Cook’s caliber only raised the Jets’ stock as a true Super Bowl contender.
The tandem combined for 865 yards and seven touchdowns on 194 carries last season, though Hall missed the final 10 games after tearing his ACL. Carter has never rushed for more than 650 yards or four touchdowns in either of his two seasons.
Cook gives the Jets something Hall and Carter don’t—or at least haven’t proven yet—a true home-run threat. The 28-year-old tailback ranks second in rushing touchdowns and carries (1,075), third in rushing yards (5,024) and sixth in receptions (170) and receiving yards (1,399) since 2019. He has four straight seasons of 1,100 yards rushing, making the Pro Bowl each year.