Cook updates status, ‘sad’ state of running back market. And McDaniel explains Tua shots

Running back Dalvin Cook, who was released by the Minnesota Vikings on Friday, said during a national interview Tuesday that he will be patient before picking a new team.

Cook, 27, has interest in playing for the Dolphins, according to a source with direct knowledge. The Dolphins have shown interest in Cook several times this offseason.

But the Dolphins are not believed to be offering what Cook seeks financially — a contract not dramatically different from the $10.4 million he was due to make in Minnesota this season.

The Vikings, in releasing him, must pay him only $2 million of that $10.4 million.

Asked by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero what he’s looking for in a new team, Cook said: “I want the value. I want somebody who wants Dalvin Cook.” He said he prefers to go a team that will give him the ball a lot.

The running back market is suppressed, and that seems to be affecting what teams are willing to pay for Cook, who has four consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons and four consecutive Pro Bowl appearances.

Running back Saquan Barkley is skipping the Giants’ mandatory minicamp and so far hasn’t signed his $10.1 million franchise tag. According to ESPN, Barkley turned down a deal from the Giants that could have been worth close to $14 million per season earlier this year.

Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs, the NFL’s leading rusher last season, also has declined to sign a franchise tag and cryptically tweeted: “We gotta do it for the ones after us.” Like Barkley, he appears to be seeking a more lucrative deal.

Either team could rescind their franchise tag offers to Barkley and Jacobs and attempt to sign Cook, though that seems unlikely in the Giants’ case.

Cook said the state of the running back market is “sad” and he wishes that teams valued the position more.

Meanwhile, Cook said his surgically repaired shoulder is “feeling great.”

When he had the shoulder procedure in February, the Vikings said it was for an injury “sustained over the past few seasons” and that he “is expected to make a full recovery prior to the start of the regular season.”

Asked by Pelissero what a team signing him would be getting, Cook said: “I’m the best leader you can get. And I’m going to show that by my actions and how I carry myself and the things I do on the field. You cut the tape on, that speaks for itself. But I think mostly and what’s important for me is some of the off-the-field stuff. Being the right figure in the community, just doing all the right stuff off the field.

“On the field, it’s going to come. I just want to be the best teammate I can be, and you know what you’re going to get out of Dalvin Cook once I step in that locker room.”

Cook, who grew up in Miami and attended Miami Central High, averaged 4.4 per carry last season and 4.7 in his career.

THIS AND THAT

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, asked on “Pardon My Take” to explain why Tua Tagovailoa is criticized more than the average quarterback, said: “There are a couple things going on. I’ve wondered the same thing, in terms of the polarization. A lot of people have strong opinions either way.

“The starting point is he is different. Different makes people uncomfortable. If you haven’t noticed, he throws with his left-hand, not right, which is crazy because he’s right-handed. He learned how to throw left on instruction from his father.”

McDaniel’s second theory for the criticism of Tagovailoa:

“Throughout the history of time, people have shunned others when they can’t pronounce their last name, which it has a lot of vowels.

“Also, there is also a lot of conviction. When there is a lot of conviction with people and they’re over the top about it, people tend to speak up on the negative. And once you dig your heels in, three years down the road, you have voodoo dolls of Tua because he’s the bane of your existence because you said you didn’t like him one time and you’re tripling down. I feel great about the guy.”

▪ The Dolphins continue to give Austin Jackson every chance to win the right tackle job.

“He’s been awesome to work with. He really has,” new offensive line coach Butch Barry said last week, on the final day of the team’s offseason program.

“He’s been very intentional in everything that we try to do. He’s taking the approach, the process, the standard that we’re trying to go about it and he’s embraced it.

“And look, it’s not going to be perfect. No player plays the perfect game. No player has the perfect practice. But he has intentionality in everything he’s trying to do. And he comes with an emphasis every day. Every day, he has an emphasis on what he wants to get better at, and as a coach, that’s all you can ever ask for.”