Ranking potential Dalvin Cook landing spots, plus NFL can’t seem to find a team for ‘Hard Knocks’ show

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

The apocalypse isn’t quite upon us just yet, but it probably feels that way if you live in New York City. The northeast has been engulfed by smoke from the wild fires that are burning in Canada. If you’re wondering why I’m bringing this up in an NFL newsletter, it’s because the situation has actually had an impact on the NFL. The Jets, Commanders and Eagles are all moving their practices indoors today due to the air quality while the Giants just said “Screw it, we’re not dealing with the smoke. We’re just going to cancel practice.”

In other apocalyptic news, the Vikings are finally about to part ways with Dalvin Cook. I thought for sure that the world would end before we saw that happen and it turns out I was half right. We’ll be looking at some landing spots for Cook today, so let’s get to the rundown. 

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. Vikings cutting Cook: Ranking possible landing spots for the RB Getty Images

After spending the entire offseason trying to trade Dalvin Cook, it appears that the Vikings have officially given up. According to multiple reports, the Vikings plan on releasing Cook. However, the move won’t become official until tomorrow, which means a team could swoop in and try to make a trade for him. That being said, no one has really shown much interest in trading for Cook over the past three months so it seems unlikely that we see a last-minute deal get made. 

Once the release becomes official, Cook will become a free agent for the first time in his career. The running back had been with Minnesota since 2017 when the Vikings selected him with the 41st overall pick in the NFL Draft. 

So where could he end up going next? Jordan Dajani broke down a few possible landing spots for the Pro Bowl running back (You can see the full list here). 

One other team that would make a lot of sense is the Broncos. Denver’s top two running backs are Javonte Williams and Samaje Perine, who both come with question marks. Williams is coming off an ACL injury while Perine has never really had to carry a full load at the position. 

Although the Vikings are moving on to Alexander Mattison, Cook seems like he still has something left in the tank. The four-time Pro Bowl has had four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, including last year when he rushed for 1,173 yards. One big reason the Vikings are dumping Cook is because the move will save them $9 million in salary cap space, according to Over the Cap. Cook will be leaving the Vikings as the third-leading rusher in franchise history with 5,993 yards, which trails only Adrian Peterson (11,747) and Robert Smith (6,818).

2. NFL can’t seem to find a ‘Hard Knocks’ team

With “Hard Knocks” set to start filming in less than seven weeks, you’d think the NFL would have already picked out a team to be on the HBO show, but that hasn’t happened. One thing that could be stalling the process is the fact that none of the eligible teams want to be on the show.  

Under the NFL’s “Hard Knocks” formula, which you can read about here, there are four teams that the league can force to be on the show this year: 

All four teams have had at least one person in the organization come out against being on the show. The latest instance came this week when Saints coach Dennis Allen was asked how he would feel about his team being selected. 

“I wouldn’t like it because I just want to focus on our football team and getting better, and any distractions are exactly that, distractions that keep you, ultimately, from reaching your goal,” Allen said, via ProFootballTalk.

On the Jets’ end, the coach Robert Saleh and owner Woody Johnson didn’t sound too thrilled with the idea when asked about it back in April. As for the Bears, team chairman George McCaskey said he would prefer to see one of the other 31 teams on the show. 

That leaves us with the Commanders. Even if they don’t want to do the show, the NFL could simply say, “Hey, we all had to deal with Dan Snyder for 20 years, so the least you could do to pay everyone back is to volunteer for the show.”

That being said, the four teams eligible to be on “Hard Knocks” this season could be off the hook if another team volunteers to be on the show. The show generally starts filming at the start of training camp, so the NFL will likely pick someone soon. 

3. Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise in the world Getty Images

Although the Cowboys haven’t been to a Super Bowl in more than 25 years, that doesn’t seem to be hurting their ability to make a profit. According to the latest numbers from Forbes, the Cowboys have basically been printing money for Jerry Jones. 

Over the past three years, the Cowboys have raked in a profit of $1.17 billion, which is the most of any sports franchise in the world over that span. 

Here’s a look at the top 11 most profitable teams in the world over the past three years, according to Forbes (I included 11 because an NFL team is in the 11th spot). 

1. Dallas Cowboys: $1.171 billion2. New England Patriots: $623 million3. Tottenham Hotspur: $414 million4. New York Knicks: $404 million5. Manchester United: $403 million6. Houston Texans: $356 million7. Golden State Warriors: $348 million8. New York Giants: $333 million9. Los Angeles Lakers: $333 million10. Manchester City: $329 million11. Los Angeles Rams: $318 million

I’m not an accountant, so don’t ask me how the Texans made the list. Of the 25 most profitable teams, 13 of them are in the NFL.

If you want to take a deeper look at the list, be sure to click here. 

4. Looking at 25 years of the ‘Madden’ curse: Should Bills be worried?

I don’t want to say that Josh Allen just threw away the Bills’ season by agreeing to be on the “Madden” cover this year, but Josh Allen might have just thrown away the Bills’ season. The problem with being on the cover of “Madden” is that it possibly comes with a curse. 

As our official curse correspondent here at CBS Sports, Cody Benjamin wanted to find out if the “Madden” curse is real, so he decided to see what happened to the last 25 players who appeared on the cover (Josh Allen might not want to read this). 

Here’s a short breakdown of what happened to a few players who appeared on the cover (When reading this, remember that “Madden” is always one year ahead. For instance, this year’s game is “Madden 24” but it’s being created for the 2023 season)

Overall, 14.5 of the past 24 cover stars have fallen victim to the curse. If you want to know how each player fared during their cover season, you can check out Cody’s full story here. 

5. Under-the-radar NFC players who could be stars in 2023 Getty Images

Earlier this week, we took a look at one under-the-radar player from each AFC team, and now, because we like to keep things even around here, we’re going to do the same thing with the NFC. 

CBSSports.com’s Jeff Kerr went through all 16 teams in the NFC to come up with one under-the-radar player. Here’s a look at four of those players.

If you want to see the full list of under-the-radar players in the NFC, then be sure to click here.

6. Extra points: DeAndre Hopkins set to visit Titans

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.