Dalvin Cook rumors swirl following NY Jets-related social media activity

There's been a lot of smoke in recent days surrounding Dalvin Cook and the NY Jets, and his recent social media activity has many believing that a deal could be imminent.

Cook has been regularly liking tweets on Twitter related to the Jets — five of his last seven likes at the time of writing have something to do with the Jets. He also followed Jets owner Woody Johnson on Wednesday.

Perhaps even more notably, Johnson actually followed him back. It should be noted that Johnson only follows 74 accounts on Twitter, with pretty much every one of those accounts being a Jets player or Jets-related figure.

Does this mean anything? It's hard to say, but combine his recent social media activity with continued reports suggesting the Jets are interested and it's easy to see why many believe a deal could be reached in the near future.

Does Dalvin Cook make sense for the NY Jets?

It's no surprise to see the Jets interested in Cook. Breece Hall is still working his way back from a torn ACL, and while the team expects him to be ready for Week 1, there's no guarantee he will be 100 percent.

The likes of Michael Carter and Zonovan Knight struggled to replace Hall following his injury last season. Cook would give the team an experienced, highly-productive contingency plan behind Hall.

A four-time Pro Bowler, Cook has rushed for 1,100 or more yards in each of the last four seasons. That said, while his box score numbers still look good, he was statistically one of the least efficient running backs in football last season.

Cook ranked dead last among all NFL running backs in RYOE (rushing yards over expected), 35th out of 42 qualifiers in DVOA, and 39th out of 42 in EPA per carry. These are generally strong indicators of declining production and efficiency.

Still, adding Cook would improve the Jets' running back depth, so it makes sense that the team is interested. It just probably wouldn't be wise for the Jets to overpay, especially given how active Cook's market appears to be.

The Miami Dolphins are reportedly one of a number of NFL teams that remain interested in signing Cook. The Jets do have some steep competition.

The smoke surrounding Cook and the Jets continues to multiply. Perhaps this is one of those situations where the smoke actually leads to fire.