The New Orleans Saints liked Oregon State wide receiver Brandin Cooks enough to trade up and get him.
In a trade with the Cardinals, the Saints moved up from their first-round pick, No. 27 overall, to get the 20th overall pick and select Cooks, who won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football last year. The Saints also gave up their third-round pick in the deal.
Although he’s not the same kind of freakish athlete as Sammy Watkins, the top receiver in this year’s draft, Cooks is a very good player who has few if any downsides: He was an extremely productive receiver in college, he performed well at the Combine, and from all accounts he’s a good guy in the locker room and in the community. New Orleans will like him.
And New Orleans will especially like giving Drew Brees another weapon. Although the Saints have lost a good receiver in Lance Moore and a good pass-catching running back in Darren Sproles, they’ve now added a promising young receiver in Cooks to an already very good passing game.