Brandin Cooks has seemingly always wanted to end up on the San Francisco 49ers.
General manager John Lynch revealed on KNBR that Cooks had stayed in touch with the organization long before Wednesday's signing, with the veteran receiver making his interest in San Francisco known well in advance.
"He kind of stayed in touch over the years," Lynch said. "He had let us know that, you know, he grew up in Stockton and he was a huge Niner fan, and if ever the opportunity presented itself… We were incredibly deep at receiver coming into this year, and that's been tested early, and so you start looking at options and Brandon's name pops up, and so let's get him on the phone."
Cooks grew up in Stockton, California, roughly 75 miles northeast of Santa Clara,
so it's a fitting landing spot for a receiver who's bounced around the league in recent years. After breaking in with New Orleans and spending time with New England and the Rams earlier in his career, Cooks turned into something of a journeyman from 2022 to 2025, playing for Houston, Dallas, New Orleans and Buffalo across that stretch — four organizations in four years. Now 32, he gets a chance to settle in with the team he grew up rooting for.
Cooks previously made clear that Kyle Shanahan's offensive mind was the top reason he wanted to join San Francisco, and Lynch's comments only reinforce how long that mutual interest had been building behind the scenes.
"It's something Kyle likes doing is FaceTime, and he likes seeing people. So yeah, we did that," Lynch said. "And we knew he had some other opportunities, and we just like telling people the truth. He knew of our affinity for him over the years, and I think it was mutual. And you know, just talked about our situation, what we were going through, what we thought he could provide for us — and asked him things like what kind of shape he's in, and, you know, as expected, he said he's been training like he's playing."
The timing works out for a 49ers receiver room that's dealing with a very different set of circumstances than most. Ricky Pearsall is out for the season, De'Zhaun Stribling isn't expected back until late in the year, Demarcus Robinson is banged up and out for a stretch after Week 2, Mike Evans is dealing with an injury but could be fine, and Christian Kirk remains on injured reserve.
For a Cooks-Niners marriage years in the making, the opportunity finally arrived at a moment San Francisco truly needed it.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Brandin Cooks had his eye on joining the 49ers for years, GM says
