Second and third-year players ready to break out in 2018

Dalvin Cook

This was by far the easiest choice and a big reason I decided to write this list. Cook was on route to taking the league by storm before getting hurt in week four last year. The then-rookie out of Florida State led the league in rushing with 354 yards and showed his versatility with 11 catches as well.

While he doesn’t have the pure power to go straight through people as a short-yardage back, his vision, burst to the second level, ability to run through arm-tackles, combined with the lateral agility and fluidity to reduce the area to attack, make him an extremely dangerous runner of the ball.

I thought Minnesota would add some help on the offensive line, but they are better than the sum of their parts as an overachieving unit and Cook went off behind it when they were still figuring things out early on last season. With Kirk Cousins under center now and the duo of Diggs & Thielen outside, opposing defenses won’t be able to stack the box to stop the up-and-coming star.