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The New York Jets protected themselves when they put together the Dalvin Cook contract.
Back in November of 2021, Gracelyn Trimble “filed a lawsuit” against Cook in which she alleged that he “physically abused her [during] an incident in November of 2020”, per Bryan Murphy of Sporting News. He later “filed a defamation suit against her” in response to this initial lawsuit and has “denied all wrongdoing”, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
This is a “pending civil lawsuit” according to Florio and the NFL typically doesn’t get involved in such matters until the legal process has taken its course.
However, if a suspension were to take place during the 2023 season, Florio said the Jets structured the contract in such a way that they built in “multiple significant forms of protection against a potential suspension.”
Cook signed a one-year deal with a maximum value of $8.6 million. Florio said that $5.92 million of that is tied to whether or not the former Florida State product ends up on the “reserve/suspended list.”
There is no signing bonus in this deal and Cook will receive a $1.08 million in guaranteed base salary.
One last provision the Jets added in was “per-game active roster bonuses.” That is $1.2 million in total and will be achieved on a week-to-week basis at $70,588.24 per clip. Cook will receive that weekly paycheck as long as he is on the “game-day 46-man roster.”
Sources Indicate Cook Potential Suspension Is a 2024 Issue
While the Jets protected themselves just in case something happens with Cook, according to sources, I’ve been told a potential suspension for Cook wouldn’t happen until 2024.
One anonymous source told me, “It’s [a] civil case. Nothing legal or criminal. [The] NFL doesn’t involve itself with civil matters until conclusion, which won’t happen until [the] earliest April [of] 2024.”
The Jets only signed Cook through the upcoming 2023 season and the veteran running back is scheduled to reach unrestricted free agency in March of 2024.
Head coach Robert Saleh was asked on Wednesday August 16 if he was concerned about a potential Cook suspension?
“At this moment, we are not concerned.”
The day before Saleh was asked about what made him comfortable with adding Cook to the team considering those alleged off the field issues?
“I’m not going to get into the details [but] obviously the conversations we had, the depth at which we researched everything, I think we all came to an agreement that we were very comfortable with the person and his situation.”
Cook Has a Chance to Earn Extra Money From the Jets
The former FSU product will have plenty of opportunities to increase the pile of money the Jets will be handing over to him.
Florio listed out some of the individual and team performance incentives in his new contract with the Jets.
He will receive a $400,000 payment if he can reach 1,250 rushing yards. Cook will earn an additional $400,000 if he can get 1,500 yards from scrimmage.
If Cook reaches 1,250 scrimmage yards during the regular season, he will receive $205,000 for every playoff win by the Jets [maximum value of $820,000 which would equate to four playoff wins].
In other words, Cook has a chance if everything breaks right to earn $8.62 million in 2023. To do that he’ll need 1,250 rushing yards, 1,500 yards from scrimmage, and the Jets would have to win the Super Bowl. Finally, he would also need to be on the active roster every week of the 2023 regular season, per Florio.
How realistic are those numbers?
Cook has played six NFL seasons and he has only topped that rushing ceiling once (2020). In three of the last four seasons, Cook has surpassed the 1,500 total yards from scrimmage floor.
The minimum barometer of 1,250 scrimmage yards he has achieved every year over the last four seasons. However, to earn any additional money with that total he would need the Jets to win playoff games or else he will receive zip-and-pip in extra earnings.
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