NOVEMBER 24: As expected, Cooks has cleared waivers (h/t ESPN’s Adam Schefter). He is now a free agent.
NOVEMBER 23: The Saints have officially put veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks on waivers, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Florio passes along a few of the “contractual technicalities” that were referenced in prior reporting on Cooks’ impending departure, technicalities which held up the transaction.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football had reported that Cooks negotiated his contract downward to facilitate his exit, which appears to be true to a degree. Per Florio, the 32-year-old wideout gave up his right to $420K in termination pay, which would not have been offset by the salary an acquiring team will have to give him.
In exchange, the team that originally drafted Cooks increased his guaranteed pay for 2026 – the final year of the two-year pact he signed this offseason – from $1.69MM to $5.94MM. A team claiming Cooks off waivers would have to absorb his contract, so bumping up the guaranteed money on the deal makes it more likely he will pass through waivers unclaimed, thus making him a free agent and therefore able to sign with any team he wants (read: a playoff contender).
Of course, the perennially cap-strapped Saints would not willingly put themselves on the hook for more money for a player they are trying to remove from the roster, so the revised contract also created a window for New Orleans to cut Cooks in a way that absolves the team of its 2026 obligation to him. The problem, according to Florio, is that league rules specifically prohibit a team from modifying a contract to deter a waiver claim, which is precisely what the Saints have done.
However, it presently appears as if the NFL is allowing the waiver process to move forward. One high-ranking official with another club expressed shock at the league’s willingness to do so, and the NFL has not responded to Florio’s request for comment or clarification.
Absent some sort of about-face on the league’s part, it looks like Cooks and the Saints will achieve their desired outcome and Cooks will soon hit the open market. As our Connor Byrne noted in the story linked above, a number of contending teams – including the Bills, Broncos, and Steelers – were in the hunt for a receiver at the trade deadline but were unable to land one. They are among the clubs that could show interest in Cooks if he does, in fact, become an FA.
The former first-round pick has 19 catches for 165 scoreless yards in 2025.
