FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- With wide receiver Brandin Cooks scheduled to answer questions from New England Patriots beat reporters on Tuesday (approximately 11 a.m. ET), it provides a springboard to explore how his presence might affect the team's playing-time distribution at the position.

Cooks hasn't missed a game in either of the past two seasons, and if that durability continues in 2017, he should be in the mix to be among the team's playing-time leaders among receivers.

In 2015 with the New Orleans Saints, he played 905 of 1,096 offensive snaps (86.6 percent). In 2016, he was on the field for 840 of 1,105 offensive snaps (76.0 percent).

Brandin Cooks hasn't missed a game in either of the last two seasons, and if that durability continues in 2017, he should be in the mix to be one of the Patriots' playing-time leaders among receivers. Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

Now consider the Patriots' playing-time breakdown with their top four wide receivers during the 2016 regular season:

Julian Edelman: 78.2 percent

Chris Hogan: 74.2 percent

Malcolm Mitchell: 48.1 percent

Danny Amendola: 23.8 percent

All four of those players are back in 2017, and with Cooks coming aboard, something will have to give if everyone is healthy.

Taking some of the load off Edelman, who turns 31 on May 22, would make some sense and in theory preserve him to be at his best later in the year. And the initial plan when the Patriots signed Hogan as a restricted free agent likely wasn't to play him on such a high percentage of the offensive snaps, so one can envision his number being scaled back slightly this year.

Considering how strongly Mitchell came on late in 2016, and especially in the second half of Super Bowl LI, his on-field presence should remain consistent (if not grow).

Meanwhile, Amendola will probably have a similar workload, with the Patriots pacing him for the homestretch and, they hope, into the playoffs, when he is often at his best.

The Patriots are a game-plan offense, morphing their attack into something different each week, based on the weakness of their opponent. But it wouldn't be a surprise if the 2017 season opens with them using their top four receivers in a rotation and mixing and matching their combinations liberally.

One series, it's Cooks and Edelman. The next it's Hogan and Mitchell. Then Cooks and Hogan, followed by Edelman and Mitchell. Along the way, the clutch Amendola is sprinkled in.

The addition of Cooks, no doubt, should have a trickle-down effect on the playing time of others.