The perceived need at Wide Reciever

[BradyFTW!]

Cooks fits an entirely different type of need, in that he's 23. Cooks seems to be an attempt to preemptively go out and get a QB whose prime will span the rest of Brady's career. And if the cost of doing that entails cutting Amendola loose, then I can live with that just fine. Brady spending the rest of his career throwing to Cooks/Mitchell/Gronk (and maybe Edelman, if he has more longevity in him than I suspect) sounds pretty excellent. Hogan was good this year, but I think the Pats see him ideally as a top-of-the-line WR3, whose skillset compliments Edelman's, Mitchell's, and Cooks' (who all have different skills in their own rights) very well.