SANTA CLARA — Brandin Cooks, a dozen years into his NFL career and on the verge of 10,000 career receiving yards, was in no hurry to choose his team for this season.
The waiting game paid off this week, to the benefit of the 49ers, who signed the Stockton-born speed demon after taking blow after blow at the position.
It worked out pretty well for Cooks, too, who took part in his first practice Wednesday, wearing a No. 84 jersey, and could provide the help the Niners desperately need at receiver as soon as Sunday.
The last time Cooks, 32, was this close to a 49ers practice, Steve Mariucci was still in charge.
“I was a diehard Niner fan,” Cooks said. “You play in the league so you’ve kind of got to forget about that, but now that you’re here, all those memories start coming back.”
Memories such as those bike rides as an elementary-aged kid every summer out in the San Joaquin Valley, across the Calaveras River, to the University of Pacific, where the 49ers held training camp from 1998 to 2002.
Cooks would peer through the fence just to catch a glimpse of Steve Young throwing downfield to Terrell Owens. By 6 or 7, he said, he was hooked. On football — and the 49ers.
Now, days away from his 33rd birthday, he’s about to catch passes from Brock Purdy, the best quarterback to come through San Francisco since Young.
At least, the 49ers hope he will be — they need him to.
“He knows that we’re down guys,” coach Kyle Shanahan said, “so he’s going to have an opportunity to get up [on the active roster] eventually.”
San Francisco needed to make a move after losing Ricky Pearsall in the preseason, De’Zhaun Stribling in Week 1 and Demarcus Robinson in Week 2. Mike Evans also left last week’s game with a hip issue that Shanahan said the Niners would have to “manage” this week in practice.
In Cooks, the 49ers got more pedigree than just about any other receiver on the market, besides maybe Tyreek Hill. As it turned out, he was more or less waiting for their call.
“Once camp got deep, I was like, ‘OK, let the season start and kind of go from there.’ Obviously some opportunities came up,” Cooks said. “And then the one that I was always hoping would come up, you know, came up. Checked all the boxes.”
He got on FaceTime with Shanahan, who “didn’t have to pitch too much,” Cooks said.
Besides the childhood connection, Cooks needed only a single word to explain why he chose the 49ers: “Kyle,” he said. “It’s what he’s done forever — get guys open in many different ways.”
So he didn’t have too many questions for Shanahan. As for Cooks, the most pressing questions still left to answer are how much he has left in the tank and how quickly can he get up to speed.
Cooks said he “work[s] out consistently like a madman,” so he’s still in good condition, but he added, “I don’t think you can get into football shape until you play football.”
He has a track record of making an impact after arriving late in the season. After being waived by the Saints in November, Cooks signed with the Bills and caught 10 passes for 192 yards between five regular-season games and two postseason contests.
Christian McCaffrey was asked about what Cooks brings to an offense that has scored the most points in the NFL through two weeks.
“Speed,” he said. “A lot of speed.”
In all but three of his 12 NFL seasons, Cooks has hauled in a reception of at least 50 yards. If he can match his output in Buffalo, he will become the sixth active receiver with 10,000 career yards. The 49ers will be his sixth team, so he’s well adapted to learning new playbooks.
He’ll have to study about as speedily as he runs to get caught up on Shanahan’s system, renowned for featuring one of the NFL’s most extensive route trees for receivers.
That part doesn’t concern Cooks. Maybe he consulted McCaffrey.
“I think getting thrown into the fire can actually be a really good thing,” said McCaffrey, who also had to learn the offense on the fly after the Niners traded for him midway through 2022.
“When you’re learning to game-plan, it’s a lot of memorization. So if you can memorize just what plays you have, and then as time goes on, you start to mesh what certain words mean.”
While in Cooks’ mind, suiting up as one of the 49ers’ five active receivers this Sunday against the Cardinals is “realistic,” San Francisco is going to wait and see how he looks in practice.
In all likelihood, Purdy will have his usual targets in McCaffrey and George Kittle but may have only Evans and Deebo Samuel as their other proven pass catchers Sunday against the Cardinals while Cooks continues to get up to speed and into football shape.
“We’re down guys, so as soon as he’s ready” he’ll join the 49ers’ active roster, Shanahan said. “He’s got to learn the offense, get used to it out there, but hopefully he can show that over this week or over the next few weeks.”
When the Sunday comes that Cooks suits up for the 49ers, he’ll be fulfilling a childhood dream. And bringing a whole lot of excitement to Stockton.
“My dad was a Niner fan, everybody. My brothers, they’re all excited,” said Cooks, the youngest of four. “I’m like, I gotta focus, though. Y’all can come to the games, but we ain’t gonna be hanging out all the time. It’s still football at the end of the day.”
