It took a little time for Saints tight end Jared Cook to officially join the team. Since then, the team apparently has been spending plenty of time coming up with ways to use him.
“New tight end comes in for us this year,” coach Sean Payton recently told Chris Simms. “Jared Cook from Oakland. We’re gonna expand the package that includes him.”
In his first season working with Raiders coach Jon Gruden, Cook had a career high in catches (68), yards (896), and touchdowns (six). He once again wanted more than his current team would pay to keep him, and in the same way he jumped from the Packers to the Raiders, Cook jumped from the Raiders to the Saints.
Cook’s two-year, $15 million contract pays out $8 million this year and puts him at the bottom of the top 10 tight ends by salary. With Payton’s ingenuity, Cook could perform like a guy at the top of the top 10 tight ends.