Whether due to free agency, the salary cap, or teams better understanding analytics and return on investment after a certain combination of age and snaps played, skill positions don’t last long with their original teams.
Gone are the days of a Barry Sanders or even a Larry Fitzgerald where running backs and receivers are allowed to finish out a majority of their career, if not their whole career, with the team that drafted them. Nowadays franchises appear to bail out just before the player’s prime has ended, whenever that could be.
The latest example is the Minnesota Vikings and Dalvin Cook. After 73 career games and 7,787 scrimmage yards since 2017, Cook is de facto gone. The de jure hasn’t exactly been settled as the Vikings seek a trade partner ahead of an outright release.
He isn’t alone.
Since 2017, just three four players with at least 7,300 scrimmage yards are still with their original draft teams. Here is the complete list.
1. RB Derrick Henry — 8,952
Although Henry was with the Tennessee Titans since 2016, the second-round pick did not become the offense’s engine until 2018 with his first 1,000-yard campaign. The majority of Henry’s yards have come on the ground with just 1,107 off receptions.
2. RB Alvin Kamara — 8,888
The former 2017 third-rounder has never posted a 1,000-yard rushing season, but who cares? Kamara has been diverse with his attack. Among his total yards, 3,753 have come through the air.
3. RB Ezekiel Elliott — 8,604
For a running back that had been dogged since 2020 as having lost a step, the former 2016 first-rounder’s top-3 inclusion the list is like a Costco free sample of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Like Henry, Elliott’s yards were largely from the ground as he generated 1,973 receiving. Aside from Cook, Elliott is the only player on this list without a team for 2023.
4. RB Christian McCaffrey — 8,482
The former Carolina Panthers 2017 first-round pick was traded midway through last season. McCaffrey generated 7,272 scrimmage yards in his Panthers career before going to the San Francisco 49ers for the final 11 games in 2022.
5. WR Tyreek Hill — 8,231
Hill exploded as a receiver in 2017, and the insertion of Patrick Mahomes at quarterback in 2018 took even more advantage of Hill’s speed. The Chiefs traded Hill after the 2021 season to the Miami Dolphins, where he had 1,710 receiving yards.
6. RB Dalvin Cook — 7,787
Most of Cook’s yards were on the ground as he had 1,794 through the air. Cook leaves Minnesota for second place on the team’s all-time rushing list behind Adrian Peterson (11,747).
7. WR Davante Adams — 7,710
The former Green Bay Packers 2014 second-round pick had his breakout season in 2016. From 2017-21, Adams produced 6,195 receiving yards for the Packers, who traded him the following offseason.
8. TE Travis Kelce — 7,501
The fact Kelce and Hill are both on this list could be considered the Mahomes Effect, yet both were established in their own right.
9. RB Nick Chubb — 7,331
Chubb hasn’t even hit 1,000 yards receiving for his career. The former 2018 second-round pick is earning his yards on the ground. How much longer will the Browns stay committed to Chubb?
10. WR Stefon Diggs — 7,323
Diggs is a bit different. The Vikings flipped their former 2015 fifth-round pick for draft picks while he was amid his prime. After the 2020 trade to the Buffalo Bills, Justin Jefferson has quelled any concerns about not having any firepower among the receiving corps.
In Diggs’ final three seasons with Minnesota, he produced 3,136 receiving yards. Since joining the Bills, Diggs has churned 4,187.
