Brandin Cooks Says He Hopes To Stay With Patriots For Remainder Of Career
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- At just 24 years old, Brandin Cooks has already established himself as one of the best receivers in the National Football League. And if he has his way, he'll write the majority of the story of his career while playing for the New England Patriots.
Cooks told CBSSports.com's Cody Benjamin that even though he's only played 10 games in New England, it's somewhere he can envision himself playing for the rest of his career.
"The goal is to play the rest of my career here," Cooks said. "That's God willing. I don't know what the future holds, but this is a special place."
Clearly, Cooks is fitting in just fine in his first season with the Patriots and Tom Brady's offense -- something many veteran receivers have not been able to say over the years. Cooks has caught 45 passes for 786 yards and four touchdowns, putting him on a pace to set a career high in receiving yards. Considering Cooks has two seasons with more than 1,100 receiving yards on his resume, and considering he's operating in an offense with several other dangerous receiving threats, that's no small feat.
Interestingly enough, Cooks only has topped the 100-yard mark in a game twice this season -- vs. Oakland in Mexico City, and vs. Houston in Week 3 -- yet he still ranks tied for fourth in the NFL in receiving yards.
The Patriots sent a first-round draft pick to New Orleans in order to acquire Cooks, who is under contract through the 2018 season. From the sound of Cooks' comments, though, he'd be happy to stick around much longer. It likely helps that with the Patriots at 8-2, Cooks has already been a part of more wins this season than he had been involved in any of this three NFL seasons. The Saints went 7-9 in all three of Cooks' seasons in New Orleans.
The winning -- plus playing with Brady -- is enough to make any receiver feel good about the place he's currently calling home.
"Just growing every day, growing every game, every practice, and it shows," Cooks told CBS' Tracy Wolfson on Sunday regarding his chemistry with Tom Brady. "We've got a lot of room to grow together, but I think we're going in the right direction."
