Brandin Cooks' contract manouvers point to tampering

[HarryLime]

Have to be careful here, don't want to end up with too many Cook(s).

 

 

[Warriorspikes51]

18 minutes ago, 2003Contenders said:

Maybe not released, but I wonder if Coleman is going back in the lineup and Moore has been told he will be inactive again?

certainly possible 

Shakir

Palmer

Cooks ?
Shavers

Davis
Coleman

[TheBrownBear]

32 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Moore seems to just play really small. Don’t love his game.

Him, Samuel, the KJ Hamster guy, Ike McKenzie, they are all basically the same guy.

[Chicken Boo]

On 11/22/2025 at 8:24 PM, EmotionallyUnstable said:

This dude has had just an insanely bizarre career. 
 

11 year vet, former 1st round pick, traded 4 times, made over 150+ million in career earnings, and just shy of 10k career receiving yards.

 

Up until recently, Cooks had been productive everywhere he had been.

 

Bizarre career indeed.

[Low Positive]

1 minute ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

Up until recently, Cooks had been productive everywhere he had been.

 

Bizarre career indeed.

His career path indicates "PITA in the locker room." How else do you explain the Pats trading a first for him, him producing there, and then the Pats turning right around and trading him for a 4th? Not to mention that he was a first-rounder who was traded by his drafting team before his fourth year after producing back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. 

[Chicken Boo]

18 minutes ago, Low Positive said:

His career path indicates "PITA in the locker room." How else do you explain the Pats trading a first for him, him producing there, and then the Pats turning right around and trading him for a 4th? Not to mention that he was a first-rounder who was traded by his drafting team before his fourth year after producing back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. 

 

Which is also strange because you'd think by this time something negative would have surfaced.

 

Haven't heard a peep in 11 seasons.

[NoSaint]

23 minutes ago, Low Positive said:

His career path indicates "PITA in the locker room." How else do you explain the Pats trading a first for him, him producing there, and then the Pats turning right around and trading him for a 4th? Not to mention that he was a first-rounder who was traded by his drafting team before his fourth year after producing back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. 

At the start I chalked some of the behind the scenes rumors to Michael Thomas being terrible to work with - as cooks had no such reputation 

 

it’s still wild that we haven’t heard more stories/off hand comments from reporters or past teammates though. 

[Lionel Hutz]

Cooks is a year older than Amari Cooper. 

[Low Positive]

14 minutes ago, Lionel Hutz said:

Cooks is a year older than Amari Cooper. 

Cooper is not old. He just quit.

[dave mcbride]

1 hour ago, NoSaint said:

At the start I chalked some of the behind the scenes rumors to Michael Thomas being terrible to work with - as cooks had no such reputation 

 

it’s still wild that we haven’t heard more stories/off hand comments from reporters or past teammates though. 

It might be less complicated than we think. The Saints traded him for a first to a Super Bowl window team in need of a separator, and he had a great season for NE. Then NE traded him and a 4th for a first rounder from the Rams, which they used to select Isaiah Wynn (at a point where they needed o-line help). He had a great season in 2018, but in 2019 suffered two concussions, missed time, and the Rams didn't make the playoffs. They did a bit a of a rebuild and shipped him and a fourth to Houston for a 2nd round pick, which they used on Van Jefferson (a younger, cheaper WR). Houston was the third team in four years that he was traded to that was in a SB window. Houston was very good in 2019, beating the Bills in the playoffs and building a big lead vs KC before collapsing. They were after Cooks because they had to replace D'Andre Hopkins, whom Bill O'Brien had a beef with. Cooks was very good for the Texans, and actually signed a two-year extension worth nearly $40 million in 2022. Then, a very bad Houston team traded him AGAIN for two picks (a 5th and 6th) because at the time they were in a massive pick acquisition phase (they had an extremely small number of picks in 2020 and 2021; Davis Mills was their top pick in 2021 and he was a 3rd rounder). The team that traded for him -- the Cowboys -- was yet ANOTHER team in a SB window, coming off a 12-5 season. They went 12-5 again with Cooks, who was solid for them (50+ catches; 8 TDs).

The point is, in every instance the trade made sense. All the teams were willing to give up real resources for him. The Cowboys gave up the least, but then again they had to take on his salary and they still gave up a 5th and 6th -- not chump change. All of the 5th and 6th rounders the Texans took in 2023 are still on the team, and To'oTo'o made some plays vs the Bills on Thursday:

 

   

 

His career is very weird, but at every point the move made sense for the two parties involved, and not because he was a problem in his prior location.

[NoSaint]

2 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

It might be less complicated than we think. The Saints traded him for a first to a Super Bowl window team in need of a separator, and he had a great season for NE. Then NE traded him and a 4th for a first rounder from the Rams, which they used to select Isaiah Wynn (at a point where they needed o-line help). He had a great season in 2018, but in 2019 suffered two concussions, missed time, and the Rams didn't make the playoffs. They did a bit a of a rebuild and shipped him and a fourth to Houston for a 2nd round pick, which they used on Van Jefferson (a younger, cheaper WR). Houston was the third team in four years that he was traded to that was in a SB window. Houston was very good in 2019, beating the Bills in the playoffs and building a big lead vs KC before collapsing. They were after Cooks because they had to replace D'Andre Hopkins, whom Bill O'Brien had a beef with. Cooks was very good for the Texans, and actually signed a two-year extension worth nearly $40 million in 2022. Then, a very bad Houston team traded him AGAIN for two picks (a 5th and 6th) because at the time they were in a massive pick acquisition phase (they had an extremely small number of picks in 2020 and 2021; Davis Mills was their top pick in 2021 and he was a 3rd rounder). The team that traded for him -- the Cowboys -- was yet ANOTHER team in a SB window, coming off a 12-5 season. They went 12-5 again with Cooks, who was solid for them (50+ catches; 8 TDs).

The point is, in every instance the trade made sense. All the teams were willing to give up real resources for him. The Cowboys gave up the least, but then again they had to take on his salary and they still gave up a 5th and 6th -- not chump change. All of the 5th and 6th rounders the Texans took in 2023 are still on the team, and To'oTo'o made some plays vs the Bills on Thursday:

 

   

 

His career is very weird, but at every point the move made sense for the two parties involved, and not because he was a problem in his prior location.

yea, I’ve contemplated that before. Just feels like after some number of them, it’s got to be more than coincidence. 
 

there are a lot of very good but not great WRs out there, and no one really moving quiet like him and those even remotely close have drama usually 

 

I suspect someday it’ll make more sense but if there is stress that follows him, good on him for handling those issues behind closed doors and not on social media 

[One Buffalo]

 

[Chicken Boo]

Well then...

[Buffalo716]

4 hours ago, Low Positive said:

His career path indicates "PITA in the locker room." How else do you explain the Pats trading a first for him, him producing there, and then the Pats turning right around and trading him for a 4th? Not to mention that he was a first-rounder who was traded by his drafting team before his fourth year after producing back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. 

No it indicates he was getting paid too much for his skill set back in the day but he was always good enough to want on your team 

 

Once there , nobody wanted to pay him the high value contract that he wanted 

 

Bill belichick was willing to trade a first round pick to bring in a receiver but he was not willing to re sign him.. but he would take something on the way out

 

It's a salary cap League.. he's not Randy Moss.. and he's not Zay Jones

 

That put you in a tough contract spot

Edited 2 hours ago by Buffalo716

[Warriorspikes51]

6 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

I'd guess he'll be a Ram, but who knows. Maybe he loves Allen 

I'm not sure what he has left in the tank. If he can still get separation downfield then we should absolutely be interested 
 

He was a team captain for the Saints as well 

&&& okay awesome!

[Mr. WEO]

lol Beane…

[BADOLBILZ]

3 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

It might be less complicated than we think. The Saints traded him for a first to a Super Bowl window team in need of a separator, and he had a great season for NE. Then NE traded him and a 4th for a first rounder from the Rams, which they used to select Isaiah Wynn (at a point where they needed o-line help). He had a great season in 2018, but in 2019 suffered two concussions, missed time, and the Rams didn't make the playoffs. They did a bit a of a rebuild and shipped him and a fourth to Houston for a 2nd round pick, which they used on Van Jefferson (a younger, cheaper WR). Houston was the third team in four years that he was traded to that was in a SB window. Houston was very good in 2019, beating the Bills in the playoffs and building a big lead vs KC before collapsing. They were after Cooks because they had to replace D'Andre Hopkins, whom Bill O'Brien had a beef with. Cooks was very good for the Texans, and actually signed a two-year extension worth nearly $40 million in 2022. Then, a very bad Houston team traded him AGAIN for two picks (a 5th and 6th) because at the time they were in a massive pick acquisition phase (they had an extremely small number of picks in 2020 and 2021; Davis Mills was their top pick in 2021 and he was a 3rd rounder). The team that traded for him -- the Cowboys -- was yet ANOTHER team in a SB window, coming off a 12-5 season. They went 12-5 again with Cooks, who was solid for them (50+ catches; 8 TDs).

The point is, in every instance the trade made sense. All the teams were willing to give up real resources for him. The Cowboys gave up the least, but then again they had to take on his salary and they still gave up a 5th and 6th -- not chump change. All of the 5th and 6th rounders the Texans took in 2023 are still on the team, and To'oTo'o made some plays vs the Bills on Thursday:

 

   

 

His career is very weird, but at every point the move made sense for the two parties involved, and not because he was a problem in his prior location.

 

 

I've just always believed that Cooks was just viewed as a middle of the pack WR1 so teams weren't really inclined to pay him WR1 money for that.

 

There seemed to be a pretty endless supply of playmaking WR's in the draft and defense's really didn't go all-in on capping passing games until after they watched the 13 seconds game in horror realizing that you weren't stopping the likes of Allen/Mahomes without putting a cap on big plays.   Cooks production started to dry up after that.

 

2017 was arguably Brady's second best year in NE statistically.   With Cooks there.   The Patriots were notorious for not valuing WR talent.   Brady's efficiency fell off considerably the next two seasons after the Cooks trade.   Perhaps if they had kept Cooks that divorce never happens.   By the time Brady left they had a WR room that was about bottom-of-league like Josh has now.

 

 

[boyst]

4 hours ago, Low Positive said:

Cooper is not old. He just quit.

His body quit on him. It was clear as day. Anyone who's athletic and washed out at any age or ability can recognize it.

[Mikie2times]

1 minute ago, boyst said:

His body quit on him. It was clear as day. Anyone who's athletic and washed out at any age or ability can recognize it.

Your posts are old and not what they once were

 

[FireChans]

6 hours ago, Low Positive said:

His career path indicates "PITA in the locker room." How else do you explain the Pats trading a first for him, him producing there, and then the Pats turning right around and trading him for a 4th? Not to mention that he was a first-rounder who was traded by his drafting team before his fourth year after producing back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. 

He was traded for a first by the Pats FWIW.

 

Brandin Cooks was drafted in the first round, traded for a first to the Pats, traded for a first to the Rams, traded to the Saints for a second.