SmashMouth

The excitement I saw from New Orleans Saints fans about the possibility of signing Jared Cook blew my mind.

As good as he was last season with the Oakland Raiders, the tight end will turn 32 before the season begins, and he’s now playing for his fifth team, which is typically an indication that teams recognize a player’s flaws.

Still, when NFL Network reported two weeks ago that Cook was visiting the Saints, the fan base went nuts. Then, the craziness grew when there were no reports about Cook for a week. Fans on Twitter went as far as to accuse reporters of withholding information as if that’s something we would do.



Precisely one week after the initial report of Cook visiting the Saints, Pro Football Talk reported the two sides were close to a deal. When that happened, I was at Wednesday at the Square, showing an out-of-town friend how great it is to see a band like Big Sam’s Funky Nation for free on a beautiful Wednesday night, but as news spread, I kept noticing people point to their phones and saying some variation of, “We got Jared Cook!”

Finally, Sean Payton announced the deal Tuesday (March 27), and after witnessing the hype from the fan base, I really wanted to write something to temper expectations. After all, most free-agent signings don’t work out nearly as well as expected, and an aging, journeyman tight end certainly would seem to have a reasonable chance to become a bad signing.

But I just can’t do it. Cook is a perfect fit with the Saints, and this offense is a perfect fit for his skills, which Cook said Wednesday was a key reason he wanted to come to New Orleans. He should make the offense significantly better next season, and he said he’s excited to have a chance to be a “huge” part of a prolific offense.

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