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Rams TE Cook talks new QB Foles, impact of possible franchise move
Tight end Jared Cook believes the St. Louis Rams have found their franchise quarterback in Nick Foles.
Cook, though, also knows how Rams players handle the issue of the club potentially finding a new home in 2016 will play a big part in determining whether St. Louis ends an 11-year streak without a playoff appearance.
Cook said Tuesday night that he and his teammates are already being constantly besieged with questions about whether Rams owner Stan Kroenke will be moving the squad to Los Angeles. Such speculation may very well become a reality before the 2015 season ends, which could then develop into the type of off-field distraction that affects on-field performance.
The 1995 Cleveland Browns experienced that problem after team owner Art Modell announced the franchise’s impending move to Baltimore midway through the season. Still in the playoff hunt at the time, the Browns won only one of their remaining seven games to finish 5-11.
“It’s something you can never escape or get away from,” Cook said of the Los Angeles chatter. “Somewhere, somebody is always talking about it or there’s always a question that pops up no matter if they’re Rams fans or (New York) Giants fans. Somebody always wants to know.
“The best thing you can do is not even focus on it. You can kind of detour the question because at the end of the day it’s out of our hands as players and coaches. There’s only one man who can make that decision. The best thing we can do is go to work every day and do your job, control the things you can control, and focus on the season one week at a time like you’re used to.”
Cook does admit the uncertainty has an extra impact on Rams players who are community-minded. Working with the Van Duzer Foundation’s Restoring the Village initiative, Cook has recently helped spearhead the establishment of seven Boy Scout troops in Ferguson, Mo.
Cook was among the most outspoken Rams players last year to support the St. Louis suburb, which was wracked by violence and racial tensions following a police shooting.
“It is tough because you invest so much in the community and the areas you’re in while you’re there,” said Cook, who was named Tennessee’s 2012 Walter Payton Man of the Year award-winner in his final season with the Titans. “You become a voice for the people that do not have a voice.
“There’s so many people here we’ve been trying to help — Boys and Girls Clubs, the homeless people — that if we were uprooted and moved, the only thing you can do is establish something as well in the next city you go to and pray that your voice was heard and you changed lives while you were here.”
For at least the 2015 campaign, Cook knows the Rams will be in St. Louis with a new quarterback at the helm. St. Louis traded former starter Sam Bradford to Philadelphia this offseason for Foles, who posted a 14-4 record the previous two years under head coach Chip Kelly.
Bradford’s inability to stay healthy — he missed the past 1½ seasons with knee injuries — greatly hurt the Rams’ offense and subsequently Cook’s production. Cook joked that he’s played with “about 10 different quarterbacks” in his six NFL seasons, four with Tennessee and two with St. Louis. That is a big part of the reason Cook has never posted big receiving numbers despite being one of the NFL’s highest-paid tight ends after signing a five-year, $35 million free-agent contract with the Rams during the 2013 offseason.
Cook is encouraged that Foles can help him enjoy that breakthrough season. Along with his impressive arm strength, Cook praised Foles for “the leadership he brings, his swag when he enters the huddle and his positivity.”
“Hopefully, he can make all of us better,” said Cook, who finished with 52 catches for 634 yards and three touchdowns in 2014 as the Rams started unheralded backups Austin Davis and Shaun Hill in Bradford’s absence. “This is something we’ve needed the past few years — somebody to fill the mold, step in, grab the ram by the horns and say, ‘Let’s go, guys! This is our time!’”
Even if that time in St. Louis may be fleeting.
Jared Cook was interviewed by Alex Marvez and co-host Bill Polian on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
