Brandin Cooks is gone from New Orleans again — and this time he is heading to a Super Bowl contender. After clearing waivers following his surprise release by the New Orleans Saints, the veteran wide receiver has signed with the Buffalo Bills, multiple reports including NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed, calling him “a new weapon for Josh Allen.” The Bills also announced the news.
For Saints fans, it is a brutal visual: the former first-round pick they just cut is immediately scooped up by a playoff hopeful that needed a proven deep threat for its franchise quarterback.
Saints Cut Brandin Cooks — and Watch Him Land With Josh Allen
Cooks’ second stint in New Orleans never came close to matching the hype of his first. The Saints brought him back on a two-year deal in March, hoping his experience and speed would stabilize a shaky receiving room and help a fading offense.
Instead, Cooks struggled to make an impact in a season where almost nothing went right for New Orleans. Before his release, he had just 19 catches for 165 yards and no touchdowns in 10 games, his quietest campaign as a pro and the first season of his career without a score.
The end was messy, too. The Saints reworked Cooks’ contract with language that helped them walk away from future guarantees, a move that drew scrutiny around the league. After that, New Orleans waived him, and Cooks agreed to give up termination pay to speed his exit and hit the open market.
Once he cleared waivers, the Bills pounced. Buffalo announced it was signing Cooks to the active roster ahead of Week 13, betting that a change of scenery and Josh Allen’s big arm can unlock what New Orleans could not.
What Brandin Cooks-to-Bills Move Means for the Saints
For the Saints, this is all about owning the reset button. Letting Cooks walk, then watching him step right into a role as a “weapon” for another AFC contender, underscores just how far New Orleans is from its own contender days.
The move signals an even deeper pivot toward youth and cost-controlled pieces on the outside. With Cooks out, the Saints are forced to lean harder on younger receivers and developmental options who were already starting to eat into his snaps late in his New Orleans tenure.
Financially, New Orleans still has to live with the choices it made when it brought Cooks back. Contract tweaks before his release helped wipe out future guarantees but also locked in dead money hits that will show up on the books even as he catches passes somewhere else.
On the field, the Saints lose a veteran who has nearly 10,000 career receiving yards and 60 touchdowns — even if they were not seeing that version of Cooks in 2025. The bigger sting is perception: the team that decided he was no longer worth a roster spot just handed ammunition to a Bills offense that might see him as the missing deep threat in November and December.
Stats, Schedule & Context for the Saints After the Cooks Move
- Cooks’ 2025 Saints line: 19 receptions, 165 yards, 0 touchdowns in 10 games.
- Career production: 729 receptions, 9,697 yards and 60 touchdowns across 168 games before the Bills deal — one of the league’s most consistent big-play threats over the past decade.
- Saints direction: Cooks’ release followed other major changes at receiver as New Orleans shifted toward a rebuild after a disappointing start to the season.
- Bills angle: Buffalo adds another veteran route-runner around Josh Allen as it chases an AFC playoff spot and tries to fix its up-and-down passing attack.
For now, Saints fans are left watching a familiar face take one more shot at a ring somewhere else. This time, as the latest weapon for one of the NFL’s most dangerous quarterbacks.
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