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A fast start to New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks' rookie season had an abrupt ending.

Cooks, who had 53 receptions for 550 yards and 3 touchdowns in 10 games, sustained a thumb injury in Week 11. The injury required surgery and Cooks was placed on the season-ending IR. Nearly two months later, Cooks has been attacking the weight room and the field with the same type of intensity that made him a first-round pick a year ago.

"I've been cleared for three weeks," Cooks told FOXSports.com in a telephone interview. "I've been catching balls, lifting weights and getting back into it. I'm looking forward to hitting it really hard right after the Super Bowl ends."

How Saints WR Brandin Cooks plans to take his game to the next level | FOX Sports

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."