FOXBORO — You’ve heard the story before.
A new wide receiver comes to the Patriots, but almost instantly discovers it’s harder than he originally thought it would be. Between the offensive system, the playbook and Tom Brady, getting acclimated to the Patriots has rarely been easy.
Just ask Chad Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Chad Jackson, Betel Johnson, Taylor Price, Josh Boyce or Aaron Dobson.
The list of receivers who failed to catch on with Brady and the Patriots greatly outweighs those who’ve had instant success. Of course, there are success stories — Randy Moss and Wes Welker had an impact when they joined the Patriots in 2007.
This year, Brandin Cooks added his name to that list. Heading into the regular-season finale, Cooks is the third wide receiver to haul in over 1,000 receiving yards in his first season with Brady. The 24-year-old has become popular this year among teammates and he says this first season with the Pats is everything he hoped it’d be.
“Yeah, I love it. I love it,” Cooks said. “I know it’s a tough place to play, but you’re surrounded by a great bunch of people. A great coaching staff that helps you bring out the best of you, so it is everything I thought it would be.”
Cooks heads into this weekend’s game with 60 receptions, 1,003 yards and six touchdowns. The speedy wideout has also shown to be one of the most dangerous deep ball receivers in the NFL and in recent memory in Foxboro. Cooks is averaging 16.7 yards per catch, which is No. 5 among all players in the NFL. Under Brady, no receiver has ever had a better mark and had over 100 targets.
Cooks is also tied for second in the NFL, with Antonio Brown, with seven catches of 40-plus yards. His 16 catches of 20-plus yards, ties him for 10th in the NFL.
This year marks Cooks’ third-straight 1,000-yard season. Although he might not hit last year’s career-high of 1,173 yards, the fact that he has been able to have success in the Patriots system in his first season is noteworthy. He joins Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Moss, Welker and Troy Brown as the only 1,000-yard receivers under Brady.
Cooks has impressed his teammates in the locker room and on the practice field. Players are quick to praise his work ethic.
“More than anything, you see a leader. You see a guy who comes to work each and every day,” said captain Duron Harmon. “Consistent about his play. Consistent about his character. Consistent about his work ethic. And you see somebody who just continually tries to strive to get better. When you see somebody like that and you see that attitude, the success you see on the field, you don’t even think twice about it. you see the work that he puts in each and every day. that’s the reason why he’s been successfully and is going to continue to be successful.”
“Great guy. Great teammate. Great in the locker room. It’s been great so far,” Danny Amendola added. "Can’t coach fast. That’s for sure. Personally, we’re all happy to have him here. He’s a great guy.”
This season will also mark Cooks’ first in the playoffs. Although the wideout will undoubtedly be excited to play in the postseason for the first time, he’s completely bought into Bill Belichick’s one week at a time mantra.
“I mean, it’s a blessing being here, don’t get me wrong,” Cooks said. “As far as thinking about everything else, we’ve still got one game left in the regular season. That’s our focus. Coach does a great job of keeping our focus on that. Taking it one week at a time. When we get there, to those other games, we’ll focus on that, but as of now, we’re focused on the Jets.”
Cooks will continue to be a big part of the Patriots offense over this next month. With Julian Edelman out for the season, the fourth-year receiver has picked up some of the slack. Don’t expect him to be satisfied with finishing with more than 1,000 yards or having some success in the Patriots offensive system.
Complacency isn’t his style.
Said Cooks, “I’m nowhere near where I want to be.”