One of the big takeaways from the joint practices between New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars has been the play of Brandin Cooks.
It was certainly shocking to see the New England Patriots pull off a blockbuster deal with the New Orleans Saints this offseason to acquire Cooks. On their Super Bowl winning team, the Patriots had a pretty good wide receiver corps.
With Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Malcolm Mitchell, and Danny Amendola, wide receiver wasn’t considered to be an area of need. However, the Patriots felt that Cooks was too good of a talent to pass up on, and they traded their first round pick in a package in order to acquire him.
In three seasons with the Saints, Cooks emerged as one of the best young wide receivers in the NFL. He was able to total 215 receptions, 2,861 receiving yards, 20 receiving touchdowns, and a 13.3 yards per catch average.
One of the reasons why the Patriots like Cooks so much is his ability to stretch the field. So far in the joint practices in camp with the Jaguars, Cooks has been doing just that.
"“(Cooks) adds that deep threat,” Bouye said after the session to Phil Perry of CSNNE.com. “Even when we were in post-safety (coverage), you could see Brady was able to throw it over the post-safety and expect for Cooks to out-run the corner and the safety.“Just the deep threat he adds, you have to play a little bit softer, even while you’re pressing. He has great route-craft, and I feel that he’s going to make their (defensive backs) and us better this week.”"
Seeing Cooks have success running deep routes against A.J. Bouye is certainly a good sign. Bouye was arguably the best cornerback available in free agency this past year, and he has had trouble stopping Cooks. Even with a safety over the top, Cooks has been able to beat them deep in practice.
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With the Patriots’ first preseason game being on Thursday, it is great to already see Brady and Cooks developing a chemistry together. It can sometimes be hard for a quarterback to get the timing down with a wide receiver, especially one as fast as Cooks. However, the two appear to be getting on the same page, and we still have a month before the regular season.