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Michigan State Football: Connor Cook’s roller-coaster NFL career continues

By Connor Muldowney

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 18: Connor Cook #18 of the Oakland Raiders chases a loose ball during the first half of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 18: Connor Cook #18 of the Oakland Raiders chases a loose ball during the first half of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Former Michigan State football star Connor Cook was drafted in 2016, but his NFL career has been a roller-coaster and it continued on Monday.

A once-promising career is now in jeopardy as Connor Cook, who signed with the Lions this offseason, has been cut to make room for David Fales.

If I were to read that statement to Michigan State fans back in 2016, they would have called me crazy. Cook had just led Michigan State to the College Football Playoff and broke all single-season passing records for the Spartans including yards, touchdowns and even wins for a quarterback.

Cook was once a projected first-round pick, but slid all the way to the fourth round, selected by the Oakland Raiders on Day 3. It was shocking to see him fall, but there was plenty of talk about the fact that he was never voted a captain at Michigan State — overblown or not, the talk was there — and that he may have had a rough personality.

Either way, he dropped but the Raiders liked him enough to take a chance.

Derek Carr was the clear starter in Oakland, so the situation wasn’t ideal for Cook, but he remained patient. His time actually came during his freshman season after the Raiders made the playoffs and Carr was injured and ruled out for the year. He got the start against the Houston Texans and the NFL’s No. 1 defense — his first action as a rookie — and struggled.

The struggles were for obvious reasons. He was freshly activated and playing in his first career start on the road in the playoffs against the league’s top defense. It was a recipe for disaster.

But the hope was still there and he entered his second season with high expectations. He didn’t play a single game and remained a third-string option for Oakland.

Before his third season with the Raiders, there was chatter that he would be on the chopping block and that came to fruition when he was cut after preseason action. He then bounced around to a few teams and practice squads before the Lions signed him in the 2019 offseason and GM Bob Quinn praised the fourth-year gunslinger from MSU.

Cook’s Lions career didn’t last long, though, as Detroit cut him on Monday, adding to his roller-coaster career which has had more plummets than rises lately.

Next. MSU Football: 10 post-spring bold predictions for 2019. dark

Will Cook find a new home in the NFL or did he exhaust his last opportunity? It seems as if the NFL has moved on from the former Michigan State star unless he makes some drastic improvements in the near future.

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