Brandin Cooks leaves no doubt about his feelings for Bills ahead of training camp, but Buffalo may have already closed that door
Veteran NFL wide receiver Brandin Cooks is making his case for a return with the Buffalo Bills ahead of training camp to make things right after his playoff mistake, but the Bills might have already moved on without him.
The season ending in horrible fashion has been a usual occurrence for the Buffalo Bills for decades and it’s still something that unfortunately continues to take place despite the team’s Super Bowl expectations under quarterback Josh Allen.
The last few seasons, the Bills had real opportunities to make a push for the team’s first ever Super Bowl title but the team continues to fall short in the playoffs in the most heartbreaking ways.
Buffalo’s latest playoff loss in the AFC Divisional Round against the Denver Broncos was an even tougher pill to swallow. The team’s Super Bowl hopes came to an end when Allen’s third-down heave to veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks ended up in the wrong hands, allowing the Broncos to kneel out the clock and advance.
It was a highly controversial play, in typical Bills fashion. Many believed Cooks came down with the ball and not Broncos defensive back Ja’Quan McMillian. But, the ruling on the field was ultimately concerned and sent the Bills home packing for seventh consecutive season in the AFC playoffs.
No one felt worst about that moment than Cooks, and rightfully so. It’s a painful moment for any player to be a part of and Cooks is doing all that he can to make sure it won’t be his last defining moment in a Bills uniform.
Brandin Cooks is hoping to return with the Buffalo Bills and avenge his playoff error
“I will continue to process it until I get back on the field,” Cooks told The Athletic, “But, I think the biggest thing I can say is that I still feel like it was a catch. After it happened, seeing some of the so-called controversial calls that were called a catch, I just had to turn the playoffs off because I’m like, ‘Yo, what is going on?’
“For me, the way that my mind operates is, ‘OK, what can I do about it?’ And what I can do about it is get back on the field, continue to work on being the best that I can be and making sure next time it’s a catch-and-run for a touchdown and leave it in no one else’s hands.”
The problem is, you have to be on a team first to have that kind of opportunity again. Since the season ended, Cooks went back on the free agent market after playing out his one-year deal with the Bills. Now, with training camp just a few weeks away, Cooks is still waiting for an opportunity for a 13th season in the NFL and hopes that can be in Buffalo.
“Obviously, Buffalo is the place I’d love to be,” Cooks said. “I want to prove that to them and have a full offseason with them. Both sides are figuring things out. We’ll see, but hopefully something transpires because I love going to training camp. That’s where you build that callus.”
Buffalo’s training camp starts on July 28 when veterans return back to the team facilities and time is starting to run out on Cooks’ hopes of rejoining the team. Saying the team hasn’t already moved on.
Buffalo Bills already made other moves at the WR position to help improve the team’s weakness
The Bills already replaced Cooks’ role within the offense in a big way this offseason when the team traded a second-round pick to the Chicago Bears for veteran receiver DJ Moore.
Moore has history playing in head coach Joe Brady’s offense and a knack for making big plays in clutch moments, such as his overtime touchdown against the Green Bay Packers last season.
That’s the kind of play-making ability this Bills team was missing. And who knows, maybe if Buffalo had DJ Moore in that same situation against the Broncos instead of Cooks, we’d be talking about the Bills a lot differently going into this season. That’s not entirely fair to say, but it is a big reason why the Bills went out and made a massive investment to acquire Moore this offseason.
Along with Moore, the Bills also signed veteran Trent Sherfield and drafted Skyler Bell in the fourth-round. As things stand going into camp, the team’s WR room consists of Moore, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Mecole Hardman, Joshua Palmer, Bell, Sherfield, Tyrell Shavers, and others.
It’s already a competitive room, and it’s unfortunate for Cooks. He doesn’t deserve to have his time in Buffalo end the way it did, but that might be the reality.
Hopefully another team decides to take a chance on Cooks before the start of training camp. If not, maybe the Bills could revisit the option of signing him if anyone goes down during camp. But, as of right now, that door in Buffalo seems to be closed.