FOXBORO — The Patriots have another “unique” opportunity to add a Pro Bowl-caliber playmaker after missing out on wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins earlier this offseason.

Running back Dalvin Cook was released by the Minnesota Vikings two weeks after Hopkins was cut by the Arizona Cardinals. Hopkins caught on with the Tennessee Titans last week, but Cook is still available as a free agent.

Head coach Bill Belichick’s right-hand man in the front office, director of player personnel Matt Groh, was asked Wednesday after the first day of training camp whether he believes adding Cook is still a possibility.

“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 didn’t exactly have the best performance in that Week 11 Patriots win, carrying the ball 22 times for 42 yards and catching four passes for 14 yards. He did make his fourth straight Pro Bowl last season while picking up 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns on 264 carries with 39 catches for 295 yards with two scores as a pass-catcher.

The Patriots hosted free-agent running backs Leonard Fournette and Darrell Henderson on visits last week but didn’t sign either player right away. They filled their roster this week by signing linebacker Diego Fagot and wide receiver Jalen Hurd.

The team could use another experienced running back to share the backfield with Rhamondre Stevenson. Currently, the Patriots have 2022 draft picks Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris, hybrid running back/wide receiver Ty Montgomery and J.J. Taylor behind Stevenson on the running back depth chart.

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.

The Patriots were also finalists to sign Hopkins before losing the All-Pro wideout to the Titans.

“We explore every option that’s out there,” Groh said. “DeAndre became available pretty early on in the spring; obviously there were reports even before he was released.

“Spent time working on it. We exhaust every option. We had him in here, talked to him. … I know we were one of the teams mentioned that was most prevalent, but we exhausted our options and did what we thought made the most sense.”

The Patriots would need to open a spot on their roster if they wanted to sign Cook.