The New England Patriots are gearing up for training camp, and after losing the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes to the Tennessee Titans, fans have been wondering what their next move will be. It's clear this team needs an influx of playmaking talent on offense, and while there aren't a ton of options available, Dalvin Cook has quickly emerged as a player many folks believe would be a good fit with New England.
Rumors linking Cook to the Pats have been floating around for some time, and after missing out on Hopkins, he seemed like the most logical option for the team. Instead, the Patriots are once again choosing to go a different way from the looks of it, as they recently brought in former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette for a visit.
This isn't the first time that New England has shown interest in Fournette, as they also brought him in for a visit last offseason before old friend Tom Brady convinced him to return to Tampa. And while he's not the worst option for the Patriots, it's clear that at this point, the team should be targeting Cook rather than Fournette if they are going to add another running back.
Why Patriots should pursue Dalvin Cook rather than Leonard Fournette
For starters, it should go without saying that Fournette isn't a bad running back. The fourth overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft revived his career with the Bucs, and became a valuable dual-threat option for Brady out of the backfield (189 CAR, 668 YDS, 3 TD, 73 REC, 523 YDS, 3 TD). Fournette did lose snaps to Rachaad White as the season went on, but he still did what was asked of him for Tampa.
However, after missing out on Hopkins, it's clear that New England cannot just opt to settle for a lesser running back right now. Fournette has already shown signs of decline, as his yards per carry went from 4.5 in 2021 to 3.5 last year, which is a massive drop off. Fournette remained a valuable checkdown option in the passing game, but his inability to consistently pick up yards is why he lost snaps to White.
Fournette could be a cost effective secondary option behind Rhamondre Stevenson at running back, but what's the point of that if he's already starting to decline? New England could feasibly get away with their current cast of running backs behind Stevenson rather than paying to bring Fournette aboard. Of course, this is a completely different story when it comes to Dalvin Cook.
The Minnesota Vikings decided to release Cook and turn things over to Alexander Mattison moving forward, but it's not as if Cook was ineffective last season. Cook's numbers are far superior to Fournette's (264 CAR, 1173 YDS, 8 TD, 39 REC, 295 YDS, 2 TD) and if you are going to add a running back, it makes sense for the Patriots to target the best guy available.
Neither of these guys will fill the holes that Hopkins could have filled, but it's clear that Cook has the explosiveness to add another dimension to New England's offense in a way that Fournette simply can't. Cook's yards per carry fell for the second straight season, but even then, his 4.4 yards per carry is way ahead of Fournette's aforementioned 3.5.
Cook is a versatile enough weapon to allow Bill O'Brien to get a bit more creative with his playcalling on offense. Having your two best playmakers be running backs would present a bit of a challenge, but you could rotate these two guys throughout the game and roll with the hot hand, and even utilize them on the field at the same time together in two-running back formations.
You could conceivably do the same thing with Fournette, but the results almost certainly wouldn't be the same. Fournette is a decent secondary guy, but he's not a game-breaker like Cook. New England's offense isn't good enough where they can pass up on Cook in favor of Fournette; heck, they aren't good enough where they should have even made this a discussion by passing up on Hopkins.
Dalvin Cook is clearly the better option of the two here, and given the dry market for running backs right now, it's clear that they could get him on a fairly cheap deal. New England has the cap space to get a deal done after making room for Hopkins, only to not pay him, so at this point, the mindset in the front office should be Cook or bust.
Instead, Bill Belichick and the front office that have dropped the ball quite a few times in recent years appear to be doing so again by taking an extended look at Fournette. Going for Cook over Fournette shouldn't really be a question, yet here we are. Belichick is likely already on thin ice after missing out on Hopkins, and choosing to sign Fournette over Cook certainly wouldn't help his case.
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