I'm just going to quote Matt Harmon (reception perception) below. Do I think Cooks will do well in NE? Absolutely. But he is not a true #1 receiver in the mold of a M.Thomas, ODB, Baldwin, etc.
Harmon:
“Cooks does well at go routes and post routes, but has never been a consistently good route runner… [My] Reception Perception results have long showed that Brandin Cooks as a player isn’t at the level of some of the true No. 1 receivers in the league. It makes sense that not only was he passed up for that role in the Saints offense by rookie Michael Thomas, but was then acquired by a team in New England that rarely asks such a designation out of their receivers.”
And from PFF:
"I tested Harmon’s assertion that Cooks, throughout his career, has dominated on deep routes but has mostly underwhelmed everywhere else.
Among all 51 receivers to record at least 250 targets over the past three seasons, Cooks ranks second-best in fantasy points per target (3.0) on deep routes (corner routes, post routes, and go routes). On all other routes, he ranks 20th-best (1.71.) This was the second-greatest differential among all receivers.
Of course, we’ve known for some time that Cooks’ bread and butter is the deep ball. Since he entered the league, 35 percent of Cooks’ fantasy points have come on deep targets (balls traveling 20 yards or more through the air.) Among all wide receivers with at least 200 targets over that stretch, only four wide receivers have been more deep-target-dependent."
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I realize this isn't a Cooks thread and to circle back - the relevance here is that Cooks is going to continue being a streaky long ball threat, which is what NE likely brought him on to do. They did not envision him in the Edelman possession receiver role. I'm willing to bet my 9th round pick (where I grabbed him) that Hogan is going to take up a lot of that slack.