Fantasy Upside
Brandin Cooks should play a significant role in Sean Payton's offense and is a serious Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate. Payton does a terrific job finding weaknesses in opponents' game plans and he'll utilize Cooks' speed and explosiveness to exploit mismatches. In preseason he lined up all over the field while playing outside the numbers and inside in the slot, and will benefit from the departures of Darren Sproles and Lance Moore. He has as much upside as any WR3 in fantasy.
Fantasy Downside
Rookie wide receivers tend to struggle acclimating to the pro game in their first year. Take Tavon Austin for example. Just like Cooks, he drew rave reviews for his speed, versatility and explosiveness, only to finish as fantasy's WR56 while catching just 40 passes. Granted, Cooks plays for a more innovative play caller than Austin, plus benefits from catching passes from a future Hall of Famer in Drew Brees. But Austin is one of many examples of rookie receivers failing to live up to their hype their rookie years.
Bottom Line
Cooks is projected to catch 66 passes for 850 yards and rack up six touchdowns in his rookie year. These are realistic numbers for a player that will line up in a dynamic offense and with one of the best quarterbacks in the league. As we mentioned in the "Fantasy Downside" section, there's always concern over drafting rookie receivers. But Cooks did nothing in preseason to lead us to believe that he won't be worth his current ADP of the eighth round. He's a WR3 with massive upside.