10. Jared Cook, New Orleans Saints
Veteran Jared Cook might be on his fifth NFL team, but he is still producing at a very good clip at this point in his career, now with the New Orleans Saints. He enjoyed a career season with the (now Las Vegas) Raiders in 2018, and parlayed that into a solid new contract with the Saints. Back in 2018 he caught 68 passes on 99 targets for 896 yards – all career-high numbers – and six touchdowns.
Last season with the Saints he saw some of those numbers dip a bit, as you might expect with Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas in the offensive huddle with him, but he managed to notch another career-high, as his nine touchdowns receiving was his best number since joining the league in 2009. In the spirit of some of the other names previously mentioned, Cook’s ability as a receiver to be that kind of matchup nightmare – especially with the players around him in that offense – makes him a true threat.
Cook is working against a cornerback on this play, but he gets separation on the route and makes a tremendous adjustment to the football. If he is doing this against cornerbacks, imagine what he does against safeties and linebackers.
So you can see the bind his presence puts defensive coordinators in.
What could make Cook even more dangerous in the season ahead is the presence of Emmanuel Sanders. With a duo of talented outside receivers in Sanders and Thomas, and the continued presence of Kamara, ask yourself this: If you are a defensive coordinator drawing up a gameplan to stop the Saints, what is your focus? It might take a while to get to Cook, which might mean even bigger production numbers for him in 2020.