During the pre-draft circuit of all-star games, combine drills and prospect interviews in 2017, Dalvin Cook built a connection with a cohort of running backs who have come to command the position in the NFL.
He was the third back drafted in the class, going to the Vikings 41st overall after the Jaguars took LSU's Leonard Fournette with the fourth pick and the Panthers selected Stanford's Christian McCaffrey eighth overall. Oklahoma's Joe Mixon went to the Bengals seven picks after Cook, Tennessee's Alvin Kamara went to the Saints at No. 67, the Chiefs took Toledo's Kareem Hunt 86th overall. Three more players — Pittsburgh's James Connor, North Carolina A&T's Tarik Cohen and UTEP's Aaron Jones — made it to Pro Bowls after being selected outside the top 100 picks.
"I think we were one of the best to come through," Cook said. "It was a deep class. It was guys that you didn't think were going to be good that are still producing. Some late picks. Just happy to be a part with those guys, that little fraternity right there. I talk with those guys. Just was a good group coming out."
Four years later, the Class of 2017 has set the standard at the position. Cook and McCaffrey — both fighting to return from injuries in time for Sunday's Vikings-Panthers matchup in Charlotte — are among its leaders in terms of both statistics and salary.
McCaffrey is the league's highest-paid back, playing on a four-year, $64 million contract that Cook and others from the class tried to match in negotiations with their own teams. Cook, who has more rushing yards than anyone in the class of 2017, is the NFL's fourth-highest-paid running back after signing a five-year, $63 million deal before the start of last season.
Alvin Kamara — who has a big lead on the rest of the group in total yards from scrimmage, with 6,645 since the Saints picked him in the third round — is the NFL's second-highest-paid running back. Five other members of the 2017 class are playing on deals worth at least $5 million per season; Jones and Mixon are tied for the seventh-highest average salary in the league, while Hunt is 13th, Cohen is 14th and Chris Carson is 16th.
"Definitely pride being a part of that group," Cook said. "I think we were one of the best to come out, that class. You can go back and check the track record. There are guys around the league still starting, still producing."
Though the Vikings and Panthers will meet for the third time in Cook's and McCaffrey's respective careers on Sunday, the two backs have never shared the field. Both have missed the game once, as part of the most injury-plagued seasons of each player's career. In 2017, Cook was on injured reserve with a torn ACL when the Vikings lost to the Panthers in a December matchup between two playoff teams. Last year, it was McCaffrey who sat out the late November game at U.S. Bank Stadium with a shoulder injury, during a year in which he missed 13 games.
