FOXBORO — The first defensive play from the Patriots on Day 2 of training camp came from head coach Bill Belichick.
Belichick was asked Thursday morning about a report from ESPN that free-agent running back Dalvin Cook is “in talks with the Patriots about setting up a possible visit to New England.”
“Yeah, no, I’m not going to talk about players that are not on our team,” Belichick said. “It’s a long-standing policy that I’ll continue to stick with.”
Cook reportedly is visiting the New York Jets this week.
Belichick wouldn’t talk Cook, but Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh did discuss the free-agent running back’s situation on Wednesday.
“We talked to DeAndre Hopkins, that’s well known,” Groh said. “We explore as many options as we can. Dalvin’s another player, this is a really, really unique situation with both of these players. You don’t typically have players of this caliber available at this time. The contracts that are signed for players right now are nowhere near in the neighborhood of the contracts that these players are generally expecting to sign.
“Usually, these are all minimum guys with splits. So this is a unique situation and any unique situation, I think everybody evaluates and looks at, you know, with Dalvin. And we saw firsthand last year going off to Minnesota on Thanksgiving. It was great to spend Thanksgiving in Minnesota. We saw firsthand what he can do.”
Cook is a four-time Pro Bowl selection, and New England has been looking at running back depth since cutting James Robinson in the spring. Currently, Pierre Strong, Ty Montgomery, Kevin Harris and J.J. Taylor are backing up starter Rhamondre Stevenson.
Cook carried the ball 264 times for 1,173 yards with eight touchdowns last season. He has 1,282 carries for 5,993 yards with 47 touchdowns in six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He was released last month for salary-cap purposes.
An ex-girlfriend of Cook, Gracelyn Trimble, sued the running back in November 2021, alleging him of assault, battery and false imprisonment. Cook filed a counterclaim against Trimble alleging her of defamation. The civil case is ongoing.