Utah_Saint

I don't know if it can be said that Cooks was clearly the best receiver.

Thomas had more catches, better catch percentage, more yds/gm more touchdowns, more 1st downs, more catches of 20+ yards. Even their yac/rec was almost identical (4.79 for Cooks, 4.73 Thomas).

And Snead was a sure handed 1st down guy, with 51 first downs to Cooks 45.

And as surprising as it might be, even Brandon Coleman had a better TD/target ratio than Cooks last season.

I don't mean to disparage Cooks at all. He's a great talent and the team will surely miss him. He has the ability to change an entire game on any given play.

But the reality is the Saints would have only had him for one more season and of all the talent the team had to offer, he was probably the most expendable and certainly had the highest trade value.

Now it's up to the Saints scouting department to get the most bang for the buck with that 32nd pick.