Player
Brady Cook
QB · Jets
Cook's 5-start arc is the entire résumé for a UDFA QB fighting for a 2026 roster spot — every scout evaluation of his future starts with this sample.
Pressed into 5 straight starts in Weeks 14-18 — 88-of-153 (57.5%) for 739 yards, 2 TD, 7 INT.
TrendBrady Cook 2025 game log
| Wk | Opp | C/A | Yds | TD | INT | Sk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | MIA | 14/30 | 163 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 15 | JAX | 22/33 | 176 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 16 | NO | 22/35 | 188 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 17 | NE | 19/33 | 152 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 18 | BUF | 11/22 | 60 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
As the Jets' QB room collapsed in December, Cook went from practice-squad DEV-listed UDFA to the starter for the last 5 games of the year. 88-of-153 (57.5%) for 739 yards is the line — a rough Comp% but real volume for a rookie undrafted thrower.
The TD/INT ledger (2/7) tells the cleaner story: interception every 21.9 attempts, and 19 sacks taken in 5 games behind a banged-up Jets line.
Why it matters. Cook's 5-start arc is the entire résumé for a UDFA QB fighting for a 2026 roster spot — every scout evaluation of his future starts with this sample.
3.8 sacks per game as a starter — Weeks 14-16 combined for 17 of the 19 total sacks.
SplitSacks taken per Cook start
| Wk | Opp | Sacks |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | MIA | 6 |
| 15 | JAX | 3 |
| 16 | NO | 8 |
| 17 | NE | 1 |
| 18 | BUF | 1 |
19 sacks across 5 starts is the part of the Cook tape that NFL scouts will frame differently than the box-score crowd. The Week 16 vs New Orleans game produced 8 sacks — tied for the 10th-highest single-game sack total by any QB since 2021 — yet Cook still completed 22-of-35 that day.
The last two starts (Weeks 17-18) showed clear adjustment: 2 total sacks combined, faster releases, a more compact decision-making radius. The sack curve went 6 → 3 → 8 → 1 → 1.
Why it matters. The Weeks 17-18 sack correction is the one data point that separates 'limited' from 'learning' in any evaluation of Cook's future.
Week 18 vs Buffalo: 11-of-22 for 60 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 1 sack — his best decision-making game despite the lowest volume.
AnomalyIn his 5th start (vs the 14-2 Bills), Cook posted the most efficient decision-making of any of his five games: 1 TD, 0 INT, 1 sack on just 22 attempts. The 60-yard total reflects a game plan that leaned on Breece Hall and asked Cook to manage rather than carry — the Jets' implicit admission that limiting Cook's exposure was the winning formula.
For a UDFA from Missouri thrown into an AFC East playoff weekend against Buffalo's secondary, 0 interceptions is the floor performance that keeps you on a 2026 roster. The contrast with Weeks 14-16 (combined 6 INTs) is the entire argument for Cook's late-season adjustment.
Why it matters. Zero interceptions against one of the league's best defenses demonstrates Cook can limit mistakes when protected by a conservative game plan — the baseline for roster viability.
From DEV-listed Week 13 to starter Week 14 — 12 non-starter weeks before his shot.
RareBrady Cook 2025 roster status
| Weeks | Status | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2, 4-8, 10-13 | DEV (practice squad) | 10 |
| 3, 8 | ACT (no snaps) | 2 |
| 14-18 | ACT (starter) | 5 |
Cook spent 10 weeks as DEV on the practice squad and was elevated to the active roster twice without getting a snap. Then injuries cleared the QB room and he started every game from Week 14 through Week 18.
The context: undrafted Missouri product, 22 years old, signed as a camp developmental arm. By December he had 153 NFL attempts on the books — a level of in-season acceleration most UDFAs never see.
Why it matters. The week-13-to-starter trajectory captures exactly how thin NFL QB depth becomes by December — and how Cook's entire career hinges on six weeks of chaos.
Only 3 UDFA QBs have made 5 starts in their rookie year since 2021 — Cook had the worst TD/INT ratio (2/7) of the group.
ComparisonUDFA QB rookie 5-start comparison (since 2021)
| QB | Year | Att | Y/A | Sk | TD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy DeVito | 2023 | 119 | 7.19 | 26 | 8 | 3 |
| Brady Cook | 2025 | 153 | 4.83 | 19 | 2 | 7 |
| Tyson Bagent | 2023 | 143 | 6.01 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
Since 2021, exactly three undrafted rookie QBs have been forced into 5 or more starts in their first NFL season. Cook's first-five-start line sits last on every key efficiency metric — 4.83 Y/A, 2 TDs, 7 INTs — against DeVito's 7.19 Y/A and 8 TDs.
The mitigating context: Cook absorbed 19 sacks in those 5 games, compared to Bagent's 5. His INT rate (4.6%) is barely above Bagent's (4.2%), and with a sack rate of 12.4% (vs Bagent's 3.5%), the protection gap explains a meaningful slice of the efficiency gap.
Why it matters. Cook's comparison to DeVito and Bagent is the only true peer group — three UDFAs handed the same impossible brief — and he lands last, but with the worst protection of the three.
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