Jared Cook has an enormous ceiling with the Saints. New Orleans has had a gaping hole at tight end ever since they traded away Jimmy Graham. It appears that the organization believes they have replaced him in some capacity with Cook. Those Graham route combinations that disappeared from the offense are returning now that Cook is in the mix. Boy, is that scary to think about.
Tight end coach, Dan Campbell said the following:
“The base is already here, the foundation for that is already here because they had a guy like [Graham],” Campbell said, via Luke Johnson of NOLA.com. “Look, we’ve already got what we need, we can brush off some of the stuff we’ve done before without any problem. We’re going to do what [Cook] does best, we’re going to use those plays, but let’s see everything he can do. Let’s test him.”
It’s been a long list of tight ends that have failed to recapture that Jimmy Graham magic. Ben Watson and Coby Fleener are two that come to mind. Recent years they have had guys 95 percent of fans have never heard of like Dan Arnold. Cook gives the Saints a veteran option that should be reliable in the pass game.
Cook is a weird one to talk about. Cook, 32, had a career year in 2018 with a bad Raiders team. 68 catches, 896 yards, and 6 touchdowns were all career highs. That’s strange for a player that has been around for a long time. Cook played with Aaron Rodgers too. Now he gets Drew Brees who really is starting to become an artist in the short passing game. Cook needs to produce. Simple as that. Outside of Michael Thomas, New Orleans really did not have a reliable number two target.
