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The New Orleans Saints traded up with the Arizona Cardinals to the 20th pick overall and selected wide receiver Brandin Cooks from Oregon State.
Cooks was a tremendous need for the Saints. New Orleans only gave up their third round pick to move up from 27 to 20, a well-worth-it deal. Marques Colston is always banged up while Lance Moore is not playing for the team any longer. Cooks replaces Moore and it will be a major upgrade at that position.
Looking ahead, the targets for quarterback Drew Brees got more deadly for defenders. With now Cooks and star tight-end Jimmy Graham in the picture, there no telling what surprises are coming from the Saints offensive unit this fall.
Coach Sean Payton probably cannot wait to get him on the field.
Cooks was presented with the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football for 2013-14 season. Of course, he isn’t a freakish athlete like Sammy Watkins, the top receiver of the 2014 draft class, but Cooks is a very productive receiver, and gets the ball in hands effectively. He performed very well at the NFL Combine.
In his last season in Corvallis, Cooks had 128 receptions for a total of 1730 yards and 16 touchdowns. He is the top receiver from the Pac-12 chosen in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Follow Oren on twitter @NFLOrenTime and listen to him live on NFL Draft Insiders weekly podcast every Wednesday night.]]>
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