Jared Cook to Rams: Meh

So St. Louis fought off Cleveland and Miami to secure the services of tight end [who fancies himself a wide receiver] Jared Cook.

Cook finished up last season as fantasy's 20th-best tight end in terms of scoring, averaging around 5 points per game.  Very mediocre, especially when you consider the competition at tight end was fairly weak last season, with only Jimmy Graham, Gronk, Tony Gonzalez, and Heath Miller (!) cracking the 8-points-per-game plateau.

Jared Cook is a very talented dude.  He's big, he's fast, he should be an explosive weapon as a member of the new wave of hyper-athletic tight ends.  However, I don't think the guy is much of a football player, just in general.  Part of the problem is that he hasn't embraced his position.  He wants to be a jumbo wideout, not a complete tight end.  Maybe he stays healthy and the light flickers on for him, now that he's reunited with Jeff Fisher.  But that Rams offense is not the kind of situation where this sort of piece can click into place and then the player can just take off.  I like Chris Givens a lot, and I still think Sam Bradford can find his groove as an above-average NFL passer, but - especially if the Rams let Danny Amendola slip away - there just are not a lot of weapons to open things up for Jared Cook in this offense.

I predict the weight of expectations coupled with his frailty and uncanny ability to fade away from the box score leads Cook to be a bit of a disappointment in St. Louis.  He'll get some early pre-draft buzz in fantasy, as a talented player in a new situation, but I expect we'll see more of the same -- top-15, top-20, top-25 tight end production, ~5 or 6 points per game, and a guy you can't really use as anything more than a TE2.


One thing I do like about Cook arriving in St. Louis is that it figures to loosen up the box a little bit for whomever ends up getting the carries out of the backfield for what is certain to be a run-first offense.  Daryl Richardson might have staked his claim to some carries, but the guy I'm watching is Isaiah Pead.  If he can get through training camp and earn a role in this offense, I think he's a sexy little sleeper for your fantasy draft.  But then again, the Rams might bring in a free agent power runner (but Richardson and Pead are smaller, speedy guys) or work the draft for more RB talent.  In any case, there will be some surprise value at RB off of this Rams roster, so keep your eyes on the situation.

My money's on Pead.