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New England Patriots Should Not Call Jared Cook

By Matthew Rewinski

Dec 6, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams tight end Jared Cook (89) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals strong safety Deone Bucannon (20) during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams tight end Jared Cook (89) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals strong safety Deone Bucannon (20) during the first half at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Los Angeles Rams have released several players, including tight end Jared Cook, but anyone who wants Cook to join the New England Patriots needs to pump the brakes.

The Los Angeles Rams pulled off the salary cap equivalent of a Friday afternoon news dump last week with a few pretty shocking roster cuts. Defensive end Chris Long, linebacker James Laurinaitis, and tight end Jared Cook won’t be suiting up in L.A. next season, as they’re all casualties of the Rams salary cap.

All three of these releases are particularly interesting because Cook and Laurinaitis are both young-ish guys – Cook is 28, Laurinaitis is 29, and Long is a GEEZER at 30 years old (just kidding). On top of that, each of them has had some decent success with the Rams. Chris Long has 54.5 career sacks, James Laurinaitis is the team’s all-time leading tackler, and Cook has caught 142 passes for 1,786 yards and eight touchdowns since he joined the team in 2013.

In other words, this is the relatively unusual situation where good players are getting cut not because they’re older and washed up, or because their production is slipping (although Long’s sacks the last couple seasons haven’t been great) – they’re purely getting cut because they’re too expensive, and the Rams have a lot of young guys to pay, like cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson.

So what do the Patriots care?

Well, in Jared Cook’s case, which is what we’re focusing on here, on paper, there’s plenty of reasons the Pats might be tempted to pick up the phone and call Cook’s agent to see what’s cooking.

The biggest reason, of course is that New England’s tight end depth chart right now behind Rob Gronkowski is a mess. As it stands today, assuming Gronk made it back from his party cruise alive, he’s clearly number one. Behind him is Scott Chandler, who apparently forgot how to catch footballs after signing with the Pats. Next up is Mike Williams, a 300-pound former tackle playing tight end, and you’d be forgiven if you forgot AJ Derby was even on the roster in the first place. It’s pretty much expected that Scott Chandler will either have to re-negotiate his contract or GTFO, so the Patriots will have to do something with the position this offseason.

Plus, for whatever reason, people are still drooling over the idea of the Patriots getting a receiving tight end to pair with Gronk and replicate the 2011 Gronk & Aaron Hernandez offense that set NFL records for receptions by a pair of tight ends (169), touchdowns (24), and receiving yards (2,237). Oh, and the Patriots scored the fourth-most points ever in an NFL season that year, with 557, for an average of 34.8 points per game.

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All signs point to Jared Cook being a killer potential free agent signing for the Patriots then, right?

All the numbers do, sure, but literally every intangible assesment of Cook’s play is between less than complimentary and, well, really not complimentary.

Here’s how Grantland (R.I.P.) described Jared Cook’s play in Tennessee, where he was drafted (ironically, with a pick traded to them by the Patriots):

“They (the Titans) promptly spent the next four years bemoaning that the freak athlete they acquired couldn’t block and refused to play him more than half the time, which is why they’re the Titans.”

But surely he got better once he went to St. Louis and was reunited with his old coach, Jeff Fisher, a no-nonsense, smash-mouth football coach?

Nope! Not according to ESPN, anyway:

“For the most part, Cook’s production as a Ram falls in line with what he did for the Tennessee Titans. That would be fine except for the fact that the production hasn’t met the high price the Rams have paid him. Cook has also drawn criticism for his issues with drops and struggles as a blocker.”

That doesn’t sound very good. ESPN goes on to think out loud that maybe Jared Cook is a good player stuck in the wrong system, but then references his blocking problems again:

(emphasis mine)

“…In doing so, it (a scheme change) put Cook in a spot where he was asked to perform as an inline blocker more than he had at any point in his career. It’s a role that doesn’t really fit Cook’s skill set and has left him miscast…”

That’s twice in one paragraph that a Rams writer all but comes out and says “This dude sucks as a blocker”, because ESPN is a Disney company and they can’t say people suck at things, even if they do, in fact, suck at them.

So let’s put these two assesments together: a beast at the scouting combine, but sucks at blocking and doesn’t really play hard every snap, and also has the occasional case of the drops.

Does that sound like a Bill Belichick guy to you?

And before someone brings up the classic “Well, Randy Moss came to New England after getting criticized for effort and lit it up!” – for one signing of a fixer-upper project like Moss that year, the Patriots’ roster over the years is full of guys that supposedly had effort/attitude problems that never got it together even once they got to New England. Albert Haynesworth. Chad Ochocinco. Brandon Spikes. Heck, Randy Moss after 2008. You get the idea.

So as tantalizing as the prospect of adding another BAMF tight end to compliment Gronk is, Jared Cook ain’t the guy for a coach and system that demands versatility, blocking, and, oh yeah, valuing doing your job over the stat sheet.

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Hey, does anyone still have Tim Wright’s phone number?

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