New England Patriots: 5 Reasons to Get Wicked Excited About Brandin Cooks

Offensive diversity

Without Brandin Cooks, the New England Patriots already have an explosive offense when healthy.  What really stood out this season was their ability to transform their offensive approach depending on competition and personnel available.

The one flaw, however, was their lack of over-the-top speed on the outside that could really stretch the field.  They had a glimpse of it with Chris Hogan, but he didn’t put the fear in opposing defenses like Randy Moss did back in 2007.

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By adding Cooks, what the Patriots will have in 2017that they didn’t have in 2007 or in their tight end featured offenses is complete diversity in the passing game.  With Cooks providing the outside threat along with Hogan, a healthy Rob Gronkowski, Edelman and Mitchell can really feast in the middle of the field, along the sidelines and down the seams.

It also opens up the short passing game with James White and Dion Lewis out of the backfield.  Never before has Brady had all of these different types of weapons at one time.  When they had Moss and Welker, they didn’t have that dominant tight end.  The last few seasons with Gronkowski and Edelman, they were always lacking the outside receiver they now have with Cooks.

It will be interesting to see the type of creativity offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels comes up with.  It will also be interesting to see how defenses defend the Patriots and who they focus on to take away.