Somewhere along the line, things got twisted around with Brandin Cooks. He’s being pigeon-holed as an outside vertical receiver, and I don’t think that’s the case.
He was used predominantly in that role last year, averaging 16.6 yards per catch. I remember that the previous season, the Saints used him in that spot, with Willie Snead and Michael Thomas getting most of the inside work. That was the year Cooks had two touchdowns over 85 yards.
But Cooks can line up inside and operate in traffic. I recall when the Saints drafted him, that’s all they were doing with him – throwing him quick balls and letting him run after the catch. He averaged 10.4 yards per catch in his first season. In his second year, he averaged 13.6 yards per catch, with plenty of short balls. He can definitely make people miss.
All of us tend to pay the most attention to the 40 at the combine, but there are also a number of other tests. There’s the 20-yard shuttle – the short shuttle – that’s designed to measure short-area quickness. Cooks in 2014 ran a 3.81 in this drill, and that’s by far the fastest time of any wide receiver tested at Indianapolis in the last 12 years. That’s over a tenth faster than any other receiver playing in the league right now. Odell Beckham (3.94), Bruce Ellington (3.95) and Amari Cooper (3.98) are the other active wide receivers (among those who tested at the combine) closest to Cooks.
I think the Patriots put some stock in this measure. They used a second-round pick on Chad Jackson out of Florida, recall, and he ran a 3.97. Julian Edelman in his book explains how the Patriots worked him out prior to the draft in 2009 and didn’t believe their watches when they read 3.91. They had him run it again, and he ran a 3.90.
So I don’t think, therefore, that it’s necessarily likely that the Rams will go in with the idea that he’ll be running mostly deep routes, while Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp operating underneath. Cooks can work in there, too. They’ve got a lot of good things they do with getting balls to wide receivers short and letting them run.
I’m not sure that Cooks will light it up. Woods and Kupp are both also viable receivers. All three of those guys might catch 60-plus passes. But with Cooks being the most talented, he is the one I would select first.
At the same time, I’m not a big fan of the decision to trade for him. He’ll need to be paid. Sammy Watkins just got a deal averaging $16 million. Jarvis Landry is on the franchise tender for $16 million. Allen Robinson is coming off an ACL injury and got a contract averaging $14 million. Cooks is better than all of those guys, so Rams could be hard-pressed to avoid making him the league’s highest-paid wide receiver. They had to give up a first-round pick to get him, and they already lost their second-round pick from this year trying to get Watkins.
If the Rams can’t re-sign Cooks, that might be cool – could set him up to play for four different teams in four years.
I am of the school of thought that Bill Belichick made this trade because of how he values the position. In drawing up his model of how to construct a roster, he’s very much away that money spent on Cooks would be money taken away from other positions. So when they couldn’t agree on a contract extension during the season last year, they walked.
Belichick previously had a similar run-in with Deion Branch, shipping him to Seattle. He bickered with Wes Welker over his value for a couple of years before letting him sign with Denver. He let David Givens sign with Tennessee. He just let Danny Amendola leave. When he thought Randy Moss was slipping a little, he traded him away to Minnesota. You don’t overpay pass catchers.
In each of the last two Super Bowls, Tom Brady has been able to put up huge passing numbers while his big-ticket pass catchers weren't even playing. When they played Atlanta, they didn't have Rob Gronkowski. When they played Philadelphia, Edelman was out and Cooks missed the final three quarters of the game.
Sean Payton has also won a Super Bowl and seems to view them the same way. He traded Jimmy Graham, and he traded Cooks. (If Michael Thomas catches about a hundred balls this year, I wonder if Payton will consider moving him – Thomas might want something like $18 million per year, while Payton might view him as of a good receiver who’s benefitted form playing in a great system.)
But where were we? I regress.
Brandin Cooks. I think he’s good, and I don’t think he’ll be used as a glorified Ted Ginn. That should include getting a healthy number of looks in the red zone.
Over the past three years, 43 wide receivers have gotten at least 15 looks inside the 10-yard line – right at the goal line. Only four of those receivers have caught at least 70 percent of their targets in that part of the field. Cooks comes in at No. 5 on said list, right behind those four.
| RECEIVING INSIDE THE 10 (2015-2017) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Com | Pct | TD |
| Golden Tate, Det. | 21 | 17 | 81% | 8+1 |
| Jordy Nelson, G.B. | 24 | 18 | 75% | 14 |
| Cole Beasley, Dall. | 19 | 14 | 74% | 12 |
| Michael Thomas, N.O. | 20 | 14 | 70% | 11 |
| Brandin Cooks, N.O.-N.E. | 16 | 11 | 69% | 6+1 |
| Jarvis Landry, Mia. | 37 | 24 | 65% | 14+2 |
| Jordan Matthews, Phil. | 17 | 11 | 65% | 7 |
| Mohamed Sanu, Cin.-Atl. | 19 | 12 | 63% | 8+1 |
| Randall Cobb, G.B. | 25 | 15 | 60% | 10+1 |
| Justin Hardy, Atl. | 15 | 9 | 60% | 7 |
| Donte Moncrief, Ind. | 15 | 9 | 60% | 9 |
| Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 38 | 22 | 58% | 14+3 |
| Davante Adams, G.B. | 26 | 15 | 58% | 9+2 |
| Seth Roberts, Oak. | 16 | 9 | 56% | 4+3 |
| Eric Decker, NYJ | 25 | 14 | 56% | 9 |
| Allen Robinson, Jac. | 29 | 16 | 55% | 14+1 |
| Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 31 | 17 | 55% | 11+1 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 17 | 9 | 53% | 4 |
| Allen Hurns, Jac. | 17 | 9 | 53% | 6 |
| T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 19 | 10 | 53% | 4+1 |
| Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 19 | 10 | 53% | 7+1 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 19 | 10 | 53% | 6 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Hou. | 25 | 13 | 52% | 12+1 |
| Alshon Jeffery, Chi.-Phil. | 20 | 10 | 50% | 7+3 |
| Brandon LaFell, N.E.-Cin. | 16 | 8 | 50% | 5 |
| A.J. Green, Cin. | 23 | 11 | 48% | 10 |
| Odell Beckham Jr., NYG | 17 | 8 | 47% | 8 |
| Chris Hogan, Buff.-N.E. | 15 | 7 | 47% | 4 |
| Michael Crabtree, Oak. | 31 | 14 | 45% | 11+3 |
| Anquan Boldin, S.F.-Det. | 18 | 8 | 44% | 5 |
| Devin Funchess, Car. | 16 | 7 | 44% | 5+1 |
| Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 30 | 13 | 43% | 8+1 |
| Julio Jones, Atl. | 30 | 13 | 43% | 7 |
| Marvin Jones, Cin.-Det. | 21 | 9 | 43% | 6 |
| Brandon Marshall, NYJ | 19 | 8 | 42% | 5 |
| Jamison Crowder, Wash. | 22 | 9 | 41% | 3+2 |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 30 | 12 | 40% | 9+3 |
| Pierre Garcon, Wash. | 19 | 6 | 32% | 4 |
| Amari Cooper, Oak. | 18 | 5 | 28% | 3+2 |
| Dez Bryant, Dall. | 26 | 7 | 27% | 6 |
| Terrance Williams, Dall. | 15 | 3 | 20% | 2 |
| Jermaine Kearse, Sea.-NYJ | 18 | 3 | 17% | 3 |
| DeVante Parker, Mia. | 18 | 2 | 11% | 2 |
—Ian Allan