Saints Release WR Brandin Cooks | The REAL Reason New Orleans Let Him Walk

Saints Release WR Brandin Cooks | The REAL Reason New Orleans Let Him Walk

[Music] the New Orleans Saints off their buy, back on the practice field on um on Wednesday. The most notable absence, Tales Fuaga, unfortunately not out there as he continues dealing with the injury that caused him to miss the game against Carolina. But there was another notable absence and a veteran wide receiver Brandon Cooks was not there as well. That’s because the Saints on Wednesday gave Brandon Cooks his release. Hat tip. Nick Underh Hill was the first to report this and um Kell Moore on Wednesday when he met with reporters confirmed it and explained the decision to release Brandon Cooks. We’re going to release Brandon Cooks. Uh he asked to be released and obviously it took a few days just to kind of go through that process just to make sure it it worked for for both parties and so his contract was kind of adjusted just to make it u something that benefited both parties. He was awesome about it. Obviously, he’s uh this is a personal thing and he’s been great for us. He’s been great uh the way he’s handled himself, uh the way he’s helped our team and so uh you know, those are those are challenging things, but appreciate everything he’s done for us and so uh feel like this is in the best interest of the team moving forward. It’ll be good for the Saints and uh you know, Cooks will have have his plan moving forward as well, so it’ll all work out. So, Cooks um being released, it will by the way, hat tip Ross Jackson who explains at Louisiana Sportset the financial implications. You heard Kellen Moore say it there that there’s some things contractually had to work out. The Saints initially signed Cooks to a 2-year $13 million deal back on March 21st. I’ll I’ll circle back to that in a second, but again, two years 13 million. They’ll have a little bit uh against the cap for the remainder of this season. Not a big deal. They’re not competing for anything anyway. Um but it um you he’ll clear waiverss and then have the opportunity to be claimed by a um by a team. So, they’ll have um uh they’ll have really cap relief from this contract in 2026. They’ll have a little money on the books for the remainder of this year. Again, not a big deal, but they’ll get relief in 2026 with Cooks not on the on the on the books. So, that’s a that’s a good thing. The um the reality here is just very obvious what what it is. Uh Brandon Cook signed with New Orleans on March 21st. Derek Carr announced his retirement in May. So, um, yeah, it was the, uh, it was the end of May. Um, it was, uh, May, sorry, it was May the 10th was the exact date. So, when Brandon Cook signed with New Orleans, you have a veteran receiver signs a two-year, $13 million deal, come back to the place that drafted him, and Derek Carr was the quarterback. And at that time, no doubt in that free agent process, New Orleans was telling him, “We’re still competing.” And the Saints very clearly needed receiver help. Remember, Rasheed Shahed was coming off a season ending injury. Chris Ave was coming off a season ending injury where we weren’t sure what Ave’s future would even be considering the concussions. There was certainly a thought the Saints could go into into the NFL draft and pick a big-bodied receiver, which they didn’t do. Um, at the time in March, I hated the signing of Brandon Cooks before we even knew Derek Carr was retiring because you signed another small receiver about the same size as Shaheen Cooks, a guy who is aging and more expensive, declining production, old and more expensive. It made no sense whatsoever. It was not a knock necessarily on Brandon Cooks. It was from New Orleans perspective what you needed. He was not the answer. and it’s clearly clearly played out that way. So, there’s two parts of this that are kind of worth exploring. One is the Saints putting just good vibes out into the world here. Brandon Cooks as an older wide receiver is, you know, near the end of his career and probably wants an opportunity to go play for a contender. Cooks is 32 years old and you know the Saints drafted him back in the 2014 draft. So this is one of those things where you know he knows he doesn’t have many years left. He came to New Orleans with the this time with the opportunity thinking he was maybe going to compete in a division that was winnable and it didn’t go that way. Derek Carr retires. You’re saddled with you know a couple of young quarterbacks who hadn’t won anything. And Kellen Mort even explain this you is number three why why he wanted it out. I think just everything’s on the personal side of this and so uh you know obviously we’ve had plenty of conversations about this. U I have nothing but respect and appreciation for Cookie. He’s he’s done everything we’ve asked and he’s battled and so uh you know he’ll have uh potentially opportunities in the future that uh he can pursue and so it’ll all work out. So he’ll go out and look for an opportunity to play for a winning team. Um, and you know, Moore also added why they wanted to accommodate him. You know, Cook’s done a lot lot of good here over the course of a number of years. I felt like u you know, once uh once we’re able to kind of talk through the thing, find something that was beneficial to us as far as adjusting the contract a little bit and uh providing us with something that uh should benefit fit us in the future. And so we’ll uh we’ll go with that. Um so there’s two parts of this. It it’s number one, you did you did Brandon Cooks a solid. You could have you could have tethered him to this sinking ship for the next two years. Contractually, you had that right. You could have said, “Tough I know you’re 32 years old. You’re stuck in this awful re. You’re stuck on the threshold of Look around you, Ellen. You’re at the threshold of hell.” Could have said you’re stuck here. Nobody’s going anywhere, but they released it. Give him an opportunity. Great. Good vibes. Good juju. Hopefully that comes back to you. The other part of this is you do have a veteran receiver here now that’s no longer with your team and that’s another weapon less for Tyler Shuck. So, you’re trying to evaluate Tyler Shuck and you’ve traded Rasheed Shahed and now you’ve released Brandon Cooks which leaves well listen to Ellen who gets uh Ellen. I think naturally Typton’s going to play a ton of football now. Uh and obviously we’ve we felt good about him. Uh he had a phenomenal preseason. He he’s been a guy that’s we felt good about and so this will provide him an opportunity to hop in there. Um, we feel like we got a younger group there with those guys. Um, that’ll be ready to ready to go compete. We feel great about these guys and so it’ll be a lot of fun to watch them go out there and go for it. Brandon Cooks 19 catches on 25 targets through 10 games. So, he had not factored in at all. Now, you get an opportunity to get Mason Typton out there in a game. So, I mean, you’re talking about Chris A, Devon Vele, who’s done nothing up until this point in the season. Mason Typton getting an opportunity. If Tyler Shuck makes something of this offense, God bless him. Give him the big gigantic contract, he’ll deserve it. He’s got nobody to throw to. But a great opportunity for young guys, a little bit of cap space next year. This is what a rebuild feels like. you just purge your roster of anything that could potentially help you or bring you value, even modest cap savings for next year’s like what’ll happen with releasing Brandon Cooks here. So, Saints going to this game against Atlanta down another wide receiver. Hey, thanks so much for watching. Please leave your comments. 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Matt Moscona breaks down the New Orleans Saints’ roster shakeup as the team returns from their bye week. Veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks has been released at his own request, giving him the opportunity to pursue a contender while providing the Saints with minor cap relief for 2026. Kellen Moore praised Cooks for his professionalism and explained how this move benefits both parties. With Cooks gone, the spotlight now shifts to the Saints’ younger receivers, including Mason Tipton, who will get more playing time and a chance to prove themselves alongside Tyler Shuck. We also examine the impact of this move on the offense and what it signals for the Saints’ rebuilding strategy moving forward.

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