Salary Cap Trickery Gone Wrong: The Brandin Cooks Revision
The New Orleans Saints and veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks mutually agreed to part ways on November 22, 2025. The series of events related to Cooks’ contract to facilitate the release was anything but simple.
In today’s Cap & Trade Newsletter, I break down the events surrounding this complicated transaction. If you are new here, do not forget to click on the red button below to get your free subscription to this newsletter. If you enjoy my work, you can upgrade to a paid version to help support my work in the future.
Before I get into what happened between the Saints, Cooks, and the NFL management council, we need to cover the original contract details.
On March 24, 2025, the 31-year-old wide receiver Brandin Cooks agreed with the New Orleans Saints on a two-year contract worth $13.0 million with $7.75 million fully guaranteed. The contract included an additional $5.0 million available through performance and playtime incentives for Cooks.
The guarantees included a $4.8 million signing bonus, a full guaranteed salary in 2025, and a partial guaranteed salary in 2026. The pieces add up to the $7.75 million full guarantee.
Fast forward to October 26, 2025, when multiple reports surfaced that the New Orleans were attempting to trade Brandin Cooks in the days leading up to the trade deadline.
The Saints ultimately were unable to find a trade partner. An offline theory was simultaneously circulating that Cooks was hoping to be traded to a playoff contender. This demand would have weakened the Saints’ negotiating position, despite the team’s already limited leverage.
On November 19, 2025, the two sides (Cooks and the Saints) reportedly agreed to part ways.
The context in Ian’s post of “The two sides agreed on this…” essentially confirmed that a new contract was agreed upon.
For my work, the details of revised contracts generally follow 3-4 days after the transaction has been completed.
Salary Cap Ramifications
If the two sides had not agreed to a contract revision, below is a breakdown of the dead money charges for the Saints:
The areas in yellow are the amounts that would apply as dead money for the 2025 league year, and the blue amounts would apply as dead money for the 2026 league year. Reminder: even though we are past June 1 in the league year, future guaranteed salaries accelerate into the current league year.
The Saints’ releasing Cooks would have caused an adverse salary cap effect for the 2025 league year. Increasing Cooks’ salary cap charge from $3,154,118 to $4,844,118.
The Saints were equipped to handle this, but such a consequence was not something the team planned for. Khai Harley is one of my favorite salary-cap gurus among the 32 NFL teams. If there was anyone who could find a path out of this…it was Khai.
Revised Contract Agreement
To facilitate Cooks’s release, the two sides agreed to a revised contract. The new contract adjusted the 2026 salary guarantee by creating a new vesting date.
Instead of a $1.69 million guarantee in 2026, the amount was increased to $5.94 million. However, the full guarantee protection was removed, and the team installed a vesting date of November 21. For context, this contract was signed and submitted to the league on November 19, 2025.
This revised contract would lower the Saints’ dead money charge for 2025, while placing the guarantee burden on another team should another team choose to claim Cooks on waivers. The dead money issue would allow New Orleans to avoid any acceleration of the 2026 guaranteed salary, resulting in a zero-sum $3.154 million dead-money charge for 2025. The net cost would only be the replacement player cost.
If Cooks were released on November 20, the claiming window would be November 21. One problem: the transaction was not on the league wire for November 20, 2025.
NFL Management Council Steps In
The league contract team reviewed this contract and determined it was not acceptable. The revised vesting date was classified as a “poison pill”. An effort by the two sides to avoid a potential claim during waivers, allowing Cooks a clean path towards street free agency.
Since the league calendar has passed the trade deadline, ALL PLAYERS are subject to waivers, not just non-vested players. Meaning, one of the 31 other NFL teams could claim the Cooks’ contract.
The Saints injected a 48-hour vesting date on $5.94 million 2026 guarantee, meaning any team that were to claim Cooks on waivers would inherit this large guarantee. For a player who just turned 32, it is unlikely any team would be willing to accept such a guarantee. A clean path to free agency is precisely what the two sides wanted.
Ultimately, the two sides would have to renegotiate back to the original contract terms (at the league office's direction) and proceed with the player's release. On November 22, 2025, Cooks was officially released by the New Orleans Saints. Cooks was subject to waivers and then cleared waivers on November 23, 2025.
This was a clever attempt by the New Orleans Saints. The team has a history of attempting to use every available path provided by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league office disagreed with the revised contract and shut down any attempts to shift a guarantee forward for the purpose of avoiding waiver claims.
Thanks for reading and your continued support!
-TC