Brandin Cooks Cut by the Saints
The New Orleans Saints have decided to release veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks, as announced on Wednesday. Cooks will become a free agent if he is not claimed through waivers. In a related move, the Saints signed wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. from their practice squad.
He asked to be released and obviously it took a few days to go through that process just to make sure it worked for both sides, so his contract was adjusted to be something that would benefit both parties. He was incredible about it.
Kellen Moore, coach
Cooks had incentives in his contract for receptions, receiving touchdowns, playing time, and receiving yards, but he didn’t reach any of them. He finished with 19 receptions for 165 yards and no touchdowns. The Saints selected Cooks in the first round of the 2014 draft, but traded him to the New England Patriots in the 2017 offseason. He has 729 receptions for 9,697 yards and 60 touchdowns in 12 seasons. Cooks is the second wide receiver for the Saints to leave the team this season, as the team traded Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks at the trade deadline.Obviously, this is something personal and he has been great for us… the way he has behaved, the way he has helped our team, so those are challenging things, but I appreciate everything he has done for us and I feel it’s what’s best for the team in the future.
Kellen Moore, coach
