NFL Draft

[UL_BayouCajun]

He reminds me of a young Steve Smith

[ManAboutTown]

This is a player who can take the top off the coverage for Colston & Graham, can take a short pass the distance, and can be your return man. I'm not normally a WR in the first round guy, but I think it can turn out to be a great pick. Teams were crowding the short pass game against the Saints last year as we had no consistent deep threat. I don't think Meachem scares anyone any more. I do wonder what this might mean for Joe Morgan.

I understand those points, and you're especially right about needing a legit deep threat. But there are a litany of receivers in this draft (and usually are) that can accomplish that. Hell, Joe Morgan was an undrafted free agent.

[CajunAmos]

No any other 4.3's that I'm aware of.

[bjc6267]

You know exactly what you are getting from him in the sproles / Moore role. I love the pic. Watch his highlights. He's pretty impressive. He has the 2nd best 30 yard shuttle in last 10 years and best vertical this year. Those stats are even more important than 40 time (you rarely run 40 yards straight).

[CrazyCajun]

I just don't think we needed to move up to get him

[BrockMeaux]

We actually won the trade. Arizona lost 100 points on the chart to make the move. We got a gamebreaker on offense. I love the move.

And on the subject of mid-round picks, ManAboutTown, I'd argue that we've had more great players come out of the late rounds than anyone recently, but we've also had just as many - if not more - flameouts in the middle rounds than anybody. They're either All Pros like Jahri Evans, or out of football in three years. Very few guys get picked in the 3rd or 4th by us and are around in 3 or 4 years as depth. Where we REALLY find our value is in undrafted free agents. We blow most teams out of the water in terms of production from UDFAs, so that allows us to be loose with picks in trades like these to go get a guy we think could be a difference maker instead of having to worry about filling out a roster with 3rd and 4th round picks. We didn't lose much in the trade, and the potential upside of Cooks in THIS offense makes it easily worth the risk. For reference, we gave a 3rd to move up 7 spots, and Cleveland gave up a 5th to move up one spot.

[BrockMeaux]

I just don't think we needed to move up to get him

And we absolutely did. Philly wanted him in the worst way. It now seems we could've gotten Marqise Lee at 27, but what little Cooks lacks in size on Lee, he makes up for in speed and durability. Lee's injury concerns are the reason he's still on the board.

[basinbear]

To take a 5'9" WR. Lost a third rounder, where we've made a living.. dumb

This kid is the real deal .....great pick IMO

[CrazyCajun]

And we absolutely did. Philly wanted him in the worst way. It now seems we could've gotten Marqise Lee at 27, but what little Cooks lacks in size on Lee, he makes up for in speed and durability. Lee's injury concerns are the reason he's still on the board.

Sproles is in philly...the guy cooks is the replacement for. Maybe they did, hope it works out.

[BrockMeaux]

They just lost Desean Jackson. Chip Kelly loves to spread the ball around and there would have been plenty to go around for Sproles, McCoy, and Cooks.

As far as in New Orleans, think of Cooks as less Darren Sproles, more Lance Moore with speed. Steve Smith without the attitude, if you will. He'll get a few snaps in the backfield I'm sure, but he was drafted as a receiver. Also, the draft isn't finished yet. Depending on what happens with the next few Saints' picks (should be some combination of corner, offensive line, maybe linebacker), they could end up going for a guy like Dri Archer or D'Anthony Thomas in the mid-to-late rounds.