Brandin Cooks will try to get his career back on track with the team that originally drafted him. He’s signed a two-year deal with the Saints.
Per reports, the contract is worth $13 million. That’s a notch below Tutu Atwell and Dyami Brown, who both signed one-year deals worth $10 million. The average is similar to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who signed with Seattle. That’s where Cooks fits in nowadays.
Cooks comes off a lousy and injury-affected season with Dallas. He caught only 26 of the 54 passes thrown his way, and they went for only 259 yards. The Rams had six wide receivers who finished with more yards than Cooks last year. Per pass, Cooks averaged only 4.8 yards per target; that was the lowest of all 89 wide receivers who saw at least 50 attempts last year.
I don’t know that we can officially write off Cooks yet. He looked capable enough when he was catching a touchdown in Week 1 at Cleveland. And in 2023, he was about the most effective wide receiver in the league inside the 10-yard line, catching a bunch of short touchdowns.
But he’s definitely nearing the end. If we look only at guys in their 30, I see only four in the last quarter century who have seen at least 50 targets and averaged fewer yards per play than Cooks. (On the chart below, “average” doesn’t show average yards per catch, but instead averaged yards per target.)
| 30-YEAR-OLDS AVERAGING UNDER 5.5 YARDS PER TARGET | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2005 | David Patten, Was. | 31 | 53 | 22 | 217 | 4.1 | 0 | 43.7 | 104 |
| 2010 | Bernard Berrian, Min. | 30 | 54 | 28 | 252 | 4.7 | 0 | 52.4 | 108 |
| 2007 | Joe Horn, Atl. | 35 | 52 | 27 | 243 | 4.7 | 1 | 57.3 | 96 |
| 2006 | Alvis Whitted, Oak. | 32 | 63 | 27 | 299 | 4.7 | 0 | 57.3 | 98 |
| 2024 | Brandin Cooks, Dall. | 31 | 54 | 26 | 259 | 4.8 | 3 | 69.6 | 96 |
| 2002 | Willie Jackson, 2tms | 31 | 53 | 25 | 257 | 4.8 | 1 | 56.7 | 99 |
| 2003 | Bill Schroeder, Det. | 32 | 80 | 36 | 397 | 5.0 | 2 | 87.7 | 78 |
| 2020 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 32 | 104 | 47 | 523 | 5.0 | 2 | 111.3 | 68 |
| 2019 | Jarius Wright, Car. | 30 | 58 | 28 | 296 | 5.1 | 0 | 56.9 | 102 |
| 2006 | Troy Brown, N.E. | 35 | 75 | 43 | 384 | 5.1 | 4 | 109.2 | 64 |
| 2006 | Peerless Price, Buff. | 30 | 78 | 49 | 402 | 5.2 | 3 | 109.0 | 65 |
| 2007 | Marty Booker, Mia. | 31 | 105 | 50 | 556 | 5.3 | 1 | 112.8 | 65 |
| 2001 | Terance Mathis, Atl. | 34 | 105 | 51 | 564 | 5.4 | 2 | 119.4 | 53 |
| 2004 | Curtis Conway, S.F. | 33 | 75 | 38 | 403 | 5.4 | 3 | 98.3 | 64 |
| 2000 | Herman Moore, Det. | 31 | 80 | 40 | 434 | 5.4 | 3 | 101.4 | 63 |
| 2006 | Rod Smith, Den. | 36 | 94 | 52 | 512 | 5.4 | 3 | 120.7 | 56 |
| 2000 | Terance Mathis, Atl. | 33 | 124 | 57 | 679 | 5.5 | 5 | 154.4 | 41 |
| 2017 | Jordy Nelson, G.B. | 32 | 88 | 53 | 482 | 5.5 | 6 | 137.2 | 46 |
| 2002 | Qadry Ismail, Ind. | 32 | 84 | 44 | 462 | 5.5 | 3 | 108.2 | 67 |
| 2005 | • Muhsin Muhammad, Chi. | 32 | 136 | 64 | 750 | 5.5 | 4 | 163.0 | 33 |
| 2009 | Deion Branch, Sea. | 30 | 79 | 45 | 437 | 5.5 | 2 | 99.9 | 75 |
| 2010 | Steve Smith, Car. | 31 | 100 | 46 | 554 | 5.5 | 2 | 114.3 | 66 |
If we take those same players and look at how they performed in their next season, it provides a comp stab at whawt might be realistic to expect out of Cooks.
There are a few more hits than I would have guessed. Four of those 21 receivers (using PPR scoring) finished with top-40 numbers the next year. Another two ranked 41st and 53rd. So that’s almost a third getting the kind of numbers you would be hoping for if you drafted Cooks.
At the same time, a third of those receivers didn’t put up notable numbers, ranked 98th or lower at the position, and another third didn’t play at all. (I’ve got those DNP guys tagged with black dots).
We’ll see how he seems to fit in at training camp, but I don’t think Cooks would be rostered together in a typical fantasy draft. I don’t think he’d be one of the top 80 wide receivers on my draft board.
| SAME PLAYERS IN NEXT SEASONS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2011 | Steve Smith, Car. | 32 | 129 | 79 | 1394 | 10.8 | 7 | 268.0 | 8 |
| 2010 | Deion Branch, 2tms | 31 | 92 | 61 | 818 | 8.9 | 6 | 178.8 | 31 |
| 2006 | Muhsin Muhammad, Chi. | 33 | 117 | 60 | 863 | 7.4 | 5 | 176.3 | 30 |
| 2021 | A.J. Green, Ari. | 33 | 92 | 54 | 848 | 9.2 | 3 | 156.8 | 41 |
| 2018 | Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 33 | 88 | 63 | 739 | 8.4 | 3 | 156.7 | 38 |
| 2001 | Terance Mathis, Atl. | 34 | 105 | 51 | 564 | 5.4 | 2 | 119.4 | 53 |
| 2002 | Terance Mathis, Pitt. | 35 | 40 | 23 | 218 | 5.5 | 2 | 56.8 | 98 |
| 2008 | Marty Booker, Chi. | 32 | 49 | 14 | 211 | 4.3 | 2 | 47.4 | 101 |
| 2004 | Bill Schroeder, T.B. | 33 | 11 | 7 | 156 | 14.2 | 1 | 28.6 | 125 |
| 2011 | Bernard Berrian, Min. | 31 | 23 | 7 | 91 | 4.0 | 0 | 16.1 | 141 |
| 2007 | Peerless Price, Buff. | 31 | 13 | 7 | 68 | 5.2 | 0 | 13.8 | 150 |
| 2001 | Herman Moore, Det. | 32 | 8 | 4 | 76 | 9.5 | 0 | 11.6 | 140 |
| 2006 | David Patten, Was. | 32 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 6.3 | 0 | 3.5 | 159 |
| 2003 | • Qadry Ismail | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2003 | • Willie Jackson | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2005 | • Curtis Conway | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2007 | • Alvis Whitted | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2007 | • Rod Smith | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2007 | • Troy Brown | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2008 | • Joe Horn | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2020 | • Jarius Wright | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .0 | 0 | .0 | -- |
| 2025 | Brandin Cooks, N.O. | 32 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan
