Brandin Cooks - What's Not To Love?

[StableOfRBs]

Tom Brady averages 548 attempts per year, figure 140 go to a healthy Gronk, another 130 go to Edelman, another 110 go to the RBs, and you're left with 168 targets left between Hogan, Mitchell, Cooks, Allen and anyone else they throw in there, Mitchell and Hogan alone combined for 140 targets last year

Based on those projections if you ignored Allen completely, halved Hogan and Mitchell's targets and gave Edelman 100 targets instead of 130 and gave Cooks the extra 28 attempts leftover then he could get to 128 targets on the season, not 135 targets and then some and even that would take some mountain-moving to achieve

The bolded is a little misleading. Over the last five seasons, Brady has averaged 38.2 attempts per game, which translates to 611 attempts per season. Those extra 60+ targets would make it much easier to get 130+ for Cooks. In the end, I think he'd still need an injury to Gronk or Edelman, but that's not a crazy bet to make.

Maybe, but over his entire career he's averaged 35 attempts per game in the 235 games he's started which works out to 560 on the season, and that target share was also completely ignoring Dwayne Allen and the Pats run a ridiculous amount of 12 personnel compared to the rest of the league

[freddog97]

Tom Brady averages 548 attempts per year, figure 140 go to a healthy Gronk, another 130 go to Edelman, another 110 go to the RBs, and you're left with 168 targets left between Hogan, Mitchell, Cooks, Allen and anyone else they throw in there, Mitchell and Hogan alone combined for 140 targets last year

Based on those projections if you ignored Allen completely, halved Hogan and Mitchell's targets and gave Edelman 100 targets instead of 130 and gave Cooks the extra 28 attempts leftover then he could get to 128 targets on the season, not 135 targets and then some and even that would take some mountain-moving to achieve

The bolded is a little misleading. Over the last five seasons, Brady has averaged 38.2 attempts per game, which translates to 611 attempts per season. Those extra 60+ targets would make it much easier to get 130+ for Cooks. In the end, I think he'd still need an injury to Gronk or Edelman, but that's not a crazy bet to make.

I don't see how Cooks doesn't get 130+ targets. They traded for him which mean they must love him.

I agree that gronk is locked for 130 targets but will he get them? he's always injured.

cooks is locked in for 130 targets in my book.

Edleman is good for 120

The RB circle is good for another 120 IMO

I don't see Mitchell/Allen/Hogan as big contributors honestly. If we add up the targets above it comes out to 500 and if we take what Jules says (611 targets)...thats 111 targets for the irrelevant guys (Mitchell/Allen/Hogan).

As for cooks value, i would want an unbelievable overpay as I'm a Patriots fan.

[TurtleBK]

^^This.

You guys seem to be ignoring the fact that Cooks' talent and explosiveness will be by far the best in the WR core. This is not count-the-scraps-and-add-up-for-Cooks'-total. It's going to be Cooks>=Edelman>>>anyone else. 135 is not a challenge, and Brady will throw deep when he has a receiver on the field who can challenge deep.

If OBJ moved to the Pats, would we really be having this discussion? Besides targets, has OBJ been a better player since entering the league? Is he taller? Brandin Cooks is massively underrated among the stud talents in this game. With all of Watkins injuries, he's still often ranked ahead of healthy WR1 Cooks. It's a joke!

Seriously you guys are the reason I get to draft him in the late 2nd round of startups. Love it!

[maxhyde]

My take on Cooks in NE is this: There is nothing Edelman does that Cooks probably can't do faster. Getting on the same page as Brady might take time but NE knows their personnel better than anyone and I think this is a plan for the inevitable Edelman isn't in NE long term. 29 and more injuries piling up plus a high salary say he may be on the chopping block sooner rather than later.
Gronk will get his share but I wouldn't assume Cooks is behind Edelman except in comfort level with Brady. NE will find ways to get him singled and throw a 3 step slant/out and let him try and beat one guy...that is all Cooks needs.
The Pats do whatever their offense does best and adding a pass catcher probably simply shifts their ratio away from the run game more.

I don't know specifically what that does to his value but to answer the above question I read: no I do not sell for 1.02 whether it is Fournette or Davis. I think Cooks is better than Davis AND I have seen him do it in the NFL...little chance I trade him for any RB not named DJ/Bell/Zeke

[StableOfRBs]

No idea why all of a sudden Cooks will supplant Edelman as Brady's favorite WR, even considering the athletic difference, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see

[Phaded]

I would just like to add that in NO, Cooks was clearly the threat opposing defenses were concerned with resulting in him being the focus of their attention. With Gronk, teams will have to pick their poison. I think Cooks going deep in single coverage is a recipe for huge production. There are a few examples from last season of Cooks going deep in single coverage.....

This is what I am looking forward to.
You cannot exactly focus on stopping Cooks and let Gronk run free.
If you focus on stopping Gronk, Cooks can turn any play into a TD.

There was no other weapon to take away the focus from Cooks in New Orleans - he was the weapon.

[StableOfRBs]

I would just like to add that in NO, Cooks was clearly the threat opposing defenses were concerned with resulting in him being the focus of their attention. With Gronk, teams will have to pick their poison. I think Cooks going deep in single coverage is a recipe for huge production. There are a few examples from last season of Cooks going deep in single coverage.....

This is what I am looking forward to.
You cannot exactly focus on stopping Cooks and let Gronk run free.
If you focus on stopping Gronk, Cooks can turn any play into a TD.

There was no other weapon to take away the focus from Cooks in New Orleans - he was the weapon.

I mean are we just forgetting about how good Michael Thomas was/is? or how good of a slot guy Snead has been?

[TurtleBK]

I would just like to add that in NO, Cooks was clearly the threat opposing defenses were concerned with resulting in him being the focus of their attention. With Gronk, teams will have to pick their poison. I think Cooks going deep in single coverage is a recipe for huge production. There are a few examples from last season of Cooks going deep in single coverage.....

This is what I am looking forward to.
You cannot exactly focus on stopping Cooks and let Gronk run free.
If you focus on stopping Gronk, Cooks can turn any play into a TD.

There was no other weapon to take away the focus from Cooks in New Orleans - he was the weapon.

I mean are we just forgetting about how good Michael Thomas was/is? or how good of a slot guy Snead has been?

Michael Thomas is going to go from a season of regular single coverage to a season of regular double coverage. Cooks is going from a season of regular double coverage to a season of (probably) 50% double coverage.

Thomas is a nice receiver with career WR2 ability. Snead has overachieved in an elite offense. Cooks is the #Talent imo

[maxhyde]

I would just like to add that in NO, Cooks was clearly the threat opposing defenses were concerned with resulting in him being the focus of their attention. With Gronk, teams will have to pick their poison. I think Cooks going deep in single coverage is a recipe for huge production. There are a few examples from last season of Cooks going deep in single coverage.....

This is what I am looking forward to.
You cannot exactly focus on stopping Cooks and let Gronk run free.
If you focus on stopping Gronk, Cooks can turn any play into a TD.

There was no other weapon to take away the focus from Cooks in New Orleans - he was the weapon.

I mean are we just forgetting about how good Michael Thomas was/is? or how good of a slot guy Snead has been?

Looking terrific in off coverage and being the focal point of a passing attack are very different roles. Jury is out on Thomas (I think he will still be fine) but Snead isn't carrying anyone's passing game on his own. Brees has also been a pretty accurate passer over his career which helps all WR's
Anyway until we see it no one knows what will happen but if you are trying to predict it makes very little sense to assume NE traded a 1st to have a guy run decoy routes for Gronk and Edelman. Brady may want his old TD passes in a season record back from Manning before retiring

[dm1129]

Looking terrific in off coverage and being the focal point of a passing attack are very different roles. Jury is out on Thomas (I think he will still be fine) but Snead isn't carrying anyone's passing game on his own. Brees has also been a pretty accurate passer over his career which helps all WR's
Anyway until we see it no one knows what will happen but if you are trying to predict it makes very little sense to assume NE traded a 1st to have a guy run decoy routes for Gronk and Edelman. Brady may want his old TD passes in a season record back from Manning before retiring

This is no joke. I recall during the investigation into 'Deflategate', there were texts/emails from Brady showing how competitive and aware he is of Manning via himself in terms of all-time legacy. It would not surprise me if Brady makes a serious run at that record this season.

[StableOfRBs]

This is what I am looking forward to.
You cannot exactly focus on stopping Cooks and let Gronk run free.
If you focus on stopping Gronk, Cooks can turn any play into a TD.

There was no other weapon to take away the focus from Cooks in New Orleans - he was the weapon.

I mean are we just forgetting about how good Michael Thomas was/is? or how good of a slot guy Snead has been?

Michael Thomas is going to go from a season of regular single coverage to a season of regular double coverage. Cooks is going from a season of regular double coverage to a season of (probably) 50% double coverage.

Thomas is a nice receiver with career WR2 ability. Snead has overachieved in an elite offense. Cooks is the #Talent imo

Thomas had the 7th best catch rate in tight coverage (less than a yard of separation) and 7th among WR1s in yard of separation per target so I'm pretty confident he can handle some double coverage (which he was getting a pretty good amount of last year)

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... more-slump
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... t-coverage

[themburns]

I think Cooks is in for a few down years. This feels like a Patriots team doing everything in its power to win one last title. They traded away basically their whole draft for vets. That tells me to not trust Brady/Belicheck past this year. Brady's arm strength has been falling off for years and I think that will limit his ability to take advantage of Cooks' ability to take the top of a defense. He's never gonna be that jump ball receiver. That being said, Cooks will also benefit from target volume from these same problems. Cooks can probably fetch 1.1 on his own in most leagues. I don't like his chances to score touchdowns and I certainly don't like the Patriots as a spot after this year, if that.

[nathanq42]

^ how often was that against a team's top corner?

[StableOfRBs]

^ how often was that against a team's top corner?

It's pretty much only based on double coverage so I couldn't tell you that

[Phaded]

Thomas had the 7th best catch rate in tight coverage (less than a yard of separation) and 7th among WR1s in yard of separation per target so I'm pretty confident he can handle some double coverage (which he was getting a pretty good amount of last year)

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... more-slump
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... t-coverage

Serious question - what does this have to do with the correlation of him being able to be the WR1 for the team?
I seriously do not see what this has to do with it.

Don't get me wrong - I really like Michael Thomas as well. However, this does not at all prove he can be a WR1 for a team.

I mean - do we think Anquan Boldin would be a top tier WR1 for the Lions if he was thrust into the position? Or what about Kenny Britt?