More than a decade after the New Orleans Saints selected Brandin Cooks with the No. 20 pick of the 2014 draft, the veteran receiver is back with the team.

The Saints announced Friday that they’d signed Cooks to a two-year deal, addressing one of their soft spots on the roster by signing a veteran receiver to pair with young starters Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. He is coming to the Saints after spending the last two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.

The 31-year-old Cooks recorded a pair of 1,000-yard seasons in his first three years with New Orleans, but the Saints traded him to the New England Patriots prior to the 2017 NFL draft — eventually using the draft pick they acquired to select offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk.

That was the first of several times Cooks has been part of an NFL trade. The Patriots traded him to the Los Angeles Rams, who traded him to the Houston Texans, who traded him to the Cowboys where he spent the last two years. This is the first time in Cooks’ 11-year career that he has signed a free agent contract.

Cooks fills a need for the Saints, who had little experienced depth beyond Olave and Shaheed. New Orleans was reportedly interested in signing veteran free agent Cooper Kupp recently, but Kupp opted instead to sign with his hometown team, the Seattle Seahawks.

Though Cooks’ production has slowed some in the last few seasons — in his two years in Dallas, he recorded 80 receptions for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns — he has been one of the most consistent receivers in the NFL since the Saints drafted him in 2014.

From 2015-21, Cooks recorded six 1,000-yard receiving campaigns in seven chances — a feat he accomplished with four different teams. Only DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, Travis Kelce and Mike Evans have more 1,000-yard receiving seasons since 2015.

Cooks played only 10 games last season — matching a career-low — after he had a knee infection following a surgical procedure in October of last year that forced him to miss seven games. He finished the 2024 season with just 259 receiving yards on 26 catches, never posting more than 52 yards in a single game.

While he hasn’t posted a 1,000-yard season since 2021, when he was with the Texans, New Orleans will almost certainly ask him to play a complementary role behind Olave and Shaheed.

He joins a receiver corps that also includes Cedrick Wilson, Bub Means, Mason Tipton, Kevin Austin and Dante Pettis.

Staff writer Matthew Paras contributed to this report.