Dalvin Cook or Bust: Fans Suspect Cowboys’ Micah Parsons Sending Message

Getty Cowboys RB Dalvin Cook

Maybe Cowboys star pass rusher Micah Parsons is just like all of us. Maybe he is wondering–and has been wondering for weeks–why, exactly, the Cowboys signed former Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook back in late August if there was no intention on playing him.

The Cowboys have the worst running game in the NFL, with just 463 total yards and a yards-per-carry average of 3.5. Both of those numbers rank 32nd in the league. Yet, Dallas keeps trotting out Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle as the team’s 1-2 punch at halfback.

Dowdle has shown he is a keeper. But Elliott? The Cowboys have little reason to keep a guy who has just 115 yards in six games and is averaging 3.0 yards per carry, a career low. It can’t hurt to bring in Cook, who is still on the practice squad–there’s virtually no chance that he is worse than Elliott at this point.

And it could be that Micah Parsons agrees–and perhaps even is sending a message to Cowboys Nation. That’s according to internet sleuths who noticed that on his popular podcast, “The Rush,” this week, Parsons had a Dalvin Cook jersey hanging over his right shoulder.

As popular Cowboys analyst J.Tuck wrote, “HOLD UP MICAH GOT A DALVIN COOK JERSEY UP IN THE BACK??”

Cowboys Getting Suggestions on Dalvin Cook?

Now, there was some fun had with the notion that Parsons had Cook’s jersey hanging in the background of the podcast, but then, he always has three jerseys hanging behind him. Most of the jerseys rotate, but Cook’s jersey has been featured behind Parsons’s right shoulder throughout the entire season.

Sorta like Parsons was telling the team to play the new guy.

It could just be a coincidence. Parsons and Cook have had multiple run-ins in their careers, but they have respect for each other. Perhaps there is nothing more to Parsons’ Cook jersey placement than that.

But it is suspicious. Everyone loves Elliott and the approach he takes as a leader for the team, though the truth is, he can’t produce much anymore. Cook would be worth a shot. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy has been noncommittal on a Cook return date.

But he did say, recently: “We’re definitely moving him forward. But the other part of it, too, is I think Rico and [Elliott] they haven’t been given a lot of opportunities too, so it isn’t like they haven’t done anything to warrant their opportunities decreasing right now. It’s a great place to be. It gives us excellent depth. That’s a hell of a situation to be in.”