Brandin Cooks wasn’t the biggest receiver on the Rams, nor did he have the best hands. However, he was undeniably the fastest.
He ran a 4.33 in the 40-yard dash at the 2014 NFL combine, making him one of the fastest receivers in the league. The Rams utilized his wheels a great deal in 2018 when he had 1,204 yards on 80 receptions, but that speed is now gone from the offense.
The Rams traded him to the Texans for a second-round pick, ending his time in L.A. after just two seasons. Josh Reynolds is a quality backup and will take over as a starter, most likely, but replicating Cooks’ speed is impossible right now.
Cooper Kupp knows that, but he isn’t of the thinking that he and Robert Woods needed Cooks’ speed to get open.
“It’s hard to find people that can run the way that Brandin can run. It’s a pretty special trait that he has, so it’s going to be hard to obviously emulate anything like that in terms of the deep threat that he is,” Kupp said on a conference call last week. “But I think each of us, any receiver that you ask in our receiver room, you ask us – none of us feels that we need to be aided to get open. Obviously, a coach is going to scheme you to give you the best opportunity to be open, Jared’s going to put the ball in the right place. Everyone’s going to do their job to give you the best opportunity to be open, but every single person on the team is going to say, ‘I can get it done, too. I can get this done. Anything you need me to get done on my own, I can do it.’”
The Rams don’t have a player with the speed of Cooks currently on the roster, but the draft does offer some options at wide receiver. Obviously, they won’t be in the range to land Henry Ruggs and his 4.27 speed, but Denzel Mims (4.38) and Devin Duvernay (4.39) could be options in Round 2 and the middle rounds, respectively.
Having two second-round picks helps in terms of finding contributors, but regardless of who the Rams select, it’ll be hard to replicate Cooks’ speed.