St. Louis Rams: Jared Cook now fantasy-relevant?

By Kevin Parvizi | Sep 13, 2015

Prior to the start of the regular season, St. Louis Rams tight end Jared Cook had an ADP of 23rd among players at the position, as he caught just 51 and 52 passes for a combined eight touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Rams. The addition of Nick Foles seemed to give him a boost, but it was still difficult to trust Cook after two mediocre seasons statistically on a run-heavy offense that feature plenty of Todd Gurley and Tre Mason.

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Neither Mason nor Gurley were healthy for today’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, and Cook ended up being the standout performer on offense with a game-high 85 receiving yards in the team’s 34-31 overtime win. Cook looked like the Rams best player on offense, taking full advantage of Kam Chancellor‘s holdout to show off his athletic traits.

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Foles looked to Cook often when he was in trouble, hitting him up over the middle of the field and when Cook was split out wide. Five receptions for 85 yards on just six targets is an excellent return, and he looks all the more appealing as a fantasy option in Week 2 when the Rams take on a much easier Washington Redskins defense. After all, the Redskins struggled to defend Miami Dolphins star TE Jordan Cameron to catch four receptions for 73 yards.

Cook has never been short on talent, and with Foles at quarterback, it looks like he might not be short on production in the 2015 regular season. Shredding the Seahawks defense is one way to put yourself on the fantasy map going forward, and he, Benny Cunningham, and Stedman Bailey did a great job of giving Foles a variety of options.

Foles is the kind of quarterback who likes to spread the ball around to different pass-catchers, as we saw both today and during his time as the Philadelphia Eagles starting signal-caller. Cook’s value today also came from his 17.0 yards per reception, because he wasn’t targeted often (again, just six times) and never made it into the end zone.

That said, he looked like a real playmaker for the St. Louis Rams offense, and they did a good job of lining him up in a bunch of different places. Lance Kendricks poses a threat to his fantasy value after catching two passes for 42 yards thanks to a 37-yard TD that was a result from Dion Bailey‘s unfortunate slip on the left sideline.

Cook has the tools, he has the trust of Jeff Fisher and Foles, and he should be a bigger red zone target going forward. The problem is that the run-pass split will change once the Rams best skill position players return, and that’s not even accounting for the fact that Brian Quick, who is the team’s best wide receiver, missed today’s game while he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.

So while Jared Cook looks better than expected, he’s not a legitimate fantasy option at the tight end position, until we have proof that he will be targeted consistently going forward. Foles will hit him up, but we have no reason to believe that he’s anything more than a streaming option.

I do think Cook is a great option in deeper leagues as a flier if you are high on his upside, because if we’re solely looking at how he played, he was excellent today. The Seahawks simply had no answer for him in the intermediate game, and, as evidenced by his 17.0 YPR, he was brilliant at making plays. If Foles targets him more often, then he could be a great option, but there’s simply no way of knowing if Cook will get enough targets to be a reliable fantasy option.

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