Brandin Cooks was once one of the top receiving weapons in the league but has been reduced to a depth piece in recent years.
He is, however, going back to the franchise where his rise started: the New Orleans Saints. Let’s analyze his contract with the Saints, his salary, and his net worth.
Brandin Cooks’ Contract and Salary
Cooks signed a two-year, $13 million deal with the Saints this offseason. The contract includes $7.75 million in guaranteed money and a signing bonus of $4.8 million. However, the signing bonus is prorated and will be worth $1.6 million each of the two seasons and for the void year in 2027.
He’s back! The #Saints are signing Brandin Cooks, per The Insiders, as their first-round draft pick from 2014 returns.
Quick photoshop 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/IynHAN2Eh6
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet)
In 2025, Cooks will earn a base salary of $1.2 million and a signing bonus of $1.6 million while carrying a cap hit of $3.1 million and a dead cap value of $7.75 million. His base salary will jump to $5.94 million in 2026, and he will receive a salary bonus of $1.6 million and a roster bonus of $500,000 as well.
The contract also includes incentives, which are as follows:
- Reception Incentive (cumulative)
60: $250,000
70: $250,000
80: $250,000 - Receiving TD Incentive (cumulative)
5: $250,000
7: $250,000
9: $250,000 - Receiving Yard Incentive (cumulative)
650: $250,000
750: $250,000
850: $250,000 - Playing Time Incentive
80%: $250,000
Cooks was previously on a two-year deal worth $39.7 million, which he had signed with the Houston Texans before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2023. He had a good first season for the Cowboys, posting 54 receptions for 657 yards and eight touchdowns. However, injuries hampered his 2024 season, and he was reduced to 26 receptions for 259 yards and three touchdowns.
Cooks’ Net Worth and Career Earnings
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Cooks’ net worth at around $14 million. However, considering his career earnings of $116,470,356 from the NFL, this is a significantly low estimate.
Cooks was drafted 20th overall by the Saints in the 2014 NFL Draft and signed a rookie contract worth $8.8 million. He had an impressive rookie campaign where he posted 550 yards and three touchdowns. However, it was the following season when he broke out with 84 receptions for 1,138 yards and nine touchdowns.
In his third year with the Saints, Cooks recorded 78 receptions for 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns. He was, however, traded to the New England Patriots for a first- and third-round pick in 2017. Cooks impressed with the Patriots as well and posted another 1,000-yard season that year.
He was traded to the Los Angeles Rams the following season and signed a massive five-year, $81 million extension with Los Angeles that included $50.5 million guaranteed. Cooks lived up to the contract in his first year with the Rams, posting a career-high 1,294 yards and five touchdowns on 80 receptions.
He only mustered 583 yards and two touchdowns the following season and was traded to the Texans. In Houston, the receiver notched up back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2020 and 2021. He led the team in receiving yards again in 2022 albeit with only 699, and was traded to the Cowboys, making him the most traded player in NFL history.
Now, after two seasons in Dallas, Cooks is returning to New Orleans and is hoping for a career renaissance in the city where it all started.