You guys are missing the point on Cooks. Whether you like him, I do, or not he's got a ton of money coming this year, moving him would create much needed cap space that can go into other areas of need. If he restructures, great, but if not they have to seriously be thinking of trading him.
While Cooks' role in the 2017 offense
was limited, it's way premature to conclude that
it will continue to be in 2018.
Meanwhile, Cook's still managed to produce a 1,000-yard+/7 TD season in his first year working with Brady (a real rarity for a WR). Even so, 2017 was a "down" year for Cooks. And yet, in spite of that, his 2015-2017 production averages are greater than those of Evans:
EVANS
... 71r/yr .. 1,176yd/yr .. 6.7 TDs/yr .. 52.7% .. 14.1 ypc
COOKS
... 76r/yr .. 1,131yd/yr .. 8.0 TDs/yr .. 63.0% .. 14.9 ypc
Evans new $16.5M APY is nearly
twice what Cooks' cap hit will be with the Pats for 2018 ($8.6M).
Yes, that $8.6M seems like a lot in the context of the Pats' cap space shortage for 2018. But the Pats also have over $60M in 2019 cap space, and can afford to push some money forward. Cooks' 2018 cap hit could be reduced by as much as 50%, if the Pats can sign him to a long term contract now. Also, if the Pats can get Cooks to sign a long term contract now -
before he potentially posts a fourth consecutive 1,000 season - they might be able to lock him up for his prime years for significantly less than what Evans just got. Cooks might be foolish to do so, but that's in his hands.
Cooks is also one of only three Pats WRs under contract who's under the age of 30. The other two are Mitchell (significantly health concerns) and Dorsett (uncertain developmental potential). Shedding Cooks now not only takes a major weapon out of Brady's hands for the 2018 season, it also pre-emptively closes off a path toward transitioning the Pats WR corps to a younger average age while maintaining high productivity (and, yes, the Patriots will continue to exist after Brady finally hangs it up, so that future
is worthy of our consideration).