What to expect from new Buffalo Bills' WR Brandin Cooks

The Buffalo Bills added an experienced veteran to their struggling receiving core, signing Brandin Cooks on Wednesday. While personnel shuffling is expected in the near future, with seven wide receivers on the active roster plus Gabriel Davis on the practice squad, the Bills clearly believe Cooks can provide an instant impact to the WR room.

Cooks was once a true WR1, producing six 1,000-yard seasons across time with four different teams. The journeyman wide receiver has shown no struggles of adjusting to new places, moving from New Orleans to New England to Los Angeles to Houston to Dallas back to New Orleans in his 12 year career.

This season has been a slow start for the former Saint, producing just 19 catches, 165 yards and zero touchdowns on 25 targets. Some of this can be attributed to his spot on the depth chart as WR3 behind Chris Olave and the recently traded Rashid Shaheed, while his age and less-than-stellar QB play from Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough also play a factor.

Nov 28, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks (3) makes a touchdown catch against New York Giants cornerback Adoree' Jackson (21) | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

What can the 32-year-old receiver bring to Buffalo's offense at this stage of his career? Content creator Erik Turner of Cover 1 watched every route run by Cooks this season, with several key takeaways in his film analysis.

First, most of his production is under 10 yards. Cooks runs lots of slants and under routes, and he runs them well, recording a 16.7% success rate on the former and 12.5% success rate on the latter. His hitch and out routes are also strong, recording a 20.8% success rate in both categories. According to Turner, he "eats up cushions quickly," and "attacks leverage to get DB to guess the break," while also making sure "to catch the attention of zone defenders to help others."

According to Matt Harmon of Reception Perception, Cooks has logged an 8.8% targets per route, the lowest among all WRs with at least 250 routes run this year, and that's with the veteran ranking 35th in the NFL in routes run. Simply put, the Saints were using him as a decoy to create leverage and space for Olave and Shaheed.

Most of his production is under 10 yards. Slants and Under routes. His in and out breaking routes are sharp. He brings his eyes around last. pic.twitter.com/8rhaPcIMiA
— Cover 1 (@Cover1) November 25, 2025

Despite his 4.33 40-yard dash time, Cooks isn't the best deep threat, at least at the current stage of his career. His success rate on post routes is a mere 4.2%, and he doesn't have a reception longer than 21 yards on the year, with just one target beyond 25 yards. While Turner notes that he still has the ability to "take the top off," he's only recorded one go route reception for 22 yards on seven targets over the last two seasons.

Cooks has logged 263 snaps out wide and 159 in the slot this season, illustrating his versatility as a receiver. Despite the veteran primarily functioning as a boundary receiver throughout his career, the Bills currently have a log-jam at the position, with Davis, Joshua Palmer, Keon Coleman, and Tyrell Shavers all fighting for snaps.

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If Joe Brady plans to deploy Cooks in a similar way to how New Orleans was using him, this could make Elijah Moore or Curtis Samuel expendable, while also allowing Khalil Shakir to be utilized more as a downfield route runner.

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