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Los Angeles Rams: 2019 will be Brandin Cooks’ coming-out party

By Jason Reed

NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 04: P.J. Williams #26 of the New Orleans Saints breaks up the pass meant for Brandin Cooks #12 of the Los Angeles Rams during the fourth quarter of the game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 4, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints won the game 45-35. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 04: P.J. Williams #26 of the New Orleans Saints breaks up the pass meant for Brandin Cooks #12 of the Los Angeles Rams during the fourth quarter of the game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 4, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Saints won the game 45-35. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Since he first graced an NFL field, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, Brandin Cooks, has been one of the games best but has been overlooked as such.

The Los Angeles Rams have one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in Brandin Cooks. Unfortunately, if you ask 100 NFL fans Family Feud style to rank their top-10 receivers and very few people would put Cooks on the list.

There are a lot of good receivers in the league and it can be easy to forget about someone like Cooks, who does not have the mainstream appeal yet as some of the other big names.

And if you are just looking at the numbers, Cooks was not even the best on the Los Angeles Rams last season, as Robert Woods recorded 15 more receiving yards than Cooks and one more touchdown.

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However, if you widen the range to fit Cooks’ entire career, it is evident he has been one of the best in football. Cooks has 5,147 receiving yards since his rookie season in 2014 and has eclipsed 1,000 yards the last four seasons. He has also found the endzone 34 total times.

That puts Cooks on an exclusive list. Since his rookie season, only six wide receivers in the NFL have over 5,000 receiving yards and 34 total touchdowns; Cooks, A.J. Green, Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown.

Even more impressive, Cooks is one of four receivers the last four years to put up at least 1,000 receiving yards in every season. The other three are Brown, Evans and Jones.

It is clear that Cooks is in an elite class, yet for some reason has never been recognized as such. Some critics point out the fact that he has had Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Jared Goff, in Sean McVay’s offense nonetheless, throwing passes to him.

And while that certainly helps, Cooks is still the one getting open and making these plays. He has played in offensive schemes where he is not the primary playmaker (Rob Gronkowski and Todd Gurley have been the last two years), which only strengthens his case.

Not only has Cooks not been recognized by the mass majority of NFL fans but he has never even been named to a Pro Bowl. Golden Tate is the only other player with at least two 1,000 receiving yard seasons in the last four years to not be named to a Pro Bowl in that span. Twenty others have.

That will all change in 2019. Cooks is entering his athletic prime and is going to play in an offensive scheme that relies less on Gurley as the featured back. Goff is also playing in a contract year, so you bet he will do his best to put together the best year of his career as well.

Next. 2019 is the most important year of Jared Goff's career. dark

Cooks will have yet another spectacular season, which will be the best one yet. and suddenly NFL fans will realize how good he has been all along.

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