I have no disagreement with you guys as far as comparing Portis to Cook. I think Portis was better as well.
I am more talking about the running style of Cook being similar to Portis, not the overall ability. And the style being more similar to Portis in Denver than Portis with Washington.
Da Franchise makes a good point that Portis transformed his style of play to fit what Joe Gibbs wanted him to do after being traded to Washington. He became a more powerful RB there than he was with Denver. Not as many big plays. Which I give Portis credit for being able to change and adapt his play style to fit the coaches system.
He added a lot of weight for Gibbs. Probably a good 15 pounds. Went through his line on fan appreciation day in preseason 04 and asked him myself. “Oh, I’m too big now?”.
Yep I remember. I drafted Portis as a rookie in dynasty and had him for his whole career. One of my favorite RB of all time.
I hate to bring up the weight bias topic again, but Portis just another example of a RB who changed their weight and play style after entering the NFL. Some people have claimed this does not happen, when it happens all the time. For better or worse.
Steve Slaton was a guy who had pretty good rookie season for the Texans, then put on too much weight and was never as good a player again.
As far as the Portis/Cook/Achane comparisons. They are all different RB I just watched a few of the highlights of Achane from this game and there were a couple of shovel passes and toss plays which were some somewhat unique type of plays that Skeletor ran with Portis in his early years. So I can see how those plays might remind one of Portis doing that as well.
Another player who I have watched a lot of, and I think had a similar play style to Portis and Cook is Terry Allen. I dont mean the level of talent in this comparison, but more the slashing play style that I love.
Not sure if Achane fits these similarities or not yet. I have one seen a few plays so far now.