Cook completed 11 of 19 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. He had a passer rating of 98.8.
“We had a pretty decent grade on him coming out of college that year,” Quinn said. “We saw him up live and personal at those joint practices, and that’s really where I kind of said, ‘Oh, yeah. Connor Cook’s here.’
“You sit there and watch practice, and he made some really good throws for a couple of those practices and played decent against us in a game.”
For Cook, the preseason performance was the last of the few hurrahs he had as a Raider. He was released in the cutdown to 53 players and wound up spending time on the practice squads of the Panthers and Bengals.
Players on practice squads can be signed to the regular rosters by any team, including their own.
Cook had a solid career at Michigan State as a full-time starter his last three seasons. He had some detractors, which is why he lasted until the fourth round of the draft when many analysts had him rated somewhat higher.
With the Raiders, Cook’s only playing time other than in the preseason was in his rookie season, and it was under extreme pressure.
With the Raiders preparing for the playoffs, Cook was forced to take over in the final regular-season game when starter Derek Carr went out with a broken leg. Cook gave a decent performance. He completed 14 of 21 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown with one interception in a 24-6 loss to the Broncos.
He started in the wild card playoff game at Houston the next week and went the distance in a 27-14 loss. Cook performed poorly, completing 18 of 45 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
