Brandin Cooks has been set free from the NFL’s equivalent of Siberia.
The Houston Texans traded Cooks to the Dallas Cowboys on March 19, getting the former Oregon State star wide receiver out from under a franchise that has become a laughingstock of the league. Cooks, 29, will now be playing for a storied franchise that has aspirations of reaching the Super Bowl this season. Needless to say, Cooks is thrilled to be playing for the “Star.”
“It’s special feeling,” Cooks said on the “Adam Schefter Podcast.” “Obviously, you think of all the history in Dallas. You think of all of the great players that have come through there. You think of the (owner Jerry) Jones family. I’m extremely excited.”
The trade to the Cowboys marks the fourth time Cooks has moved to a new team during his career, tying him with Eric Dickerson as the most traded player in NFL history since 1980. Cooks was traded from the New Orleans Saints to the New England Patriots in 2017 and the Patriots traded him to the Los Angeles Rams a year later. The Rams traded him to Houston in 2020. Now he’s in Dallas.
While some people may see Cooks bouncing around the league in a negative light, he views the trades as a good thing – somebody wants him.
“I take a positive stance from it,” Cooks said on the “Adam Schefter Podcast.” “The fact that I’m wanted, I don’t take that lightly. I respect it.”
The reason teams want the speedy Cooks is his consistent production throughout his first nine seasons in the NFL.
Cooks has posted at least 1,000 or more receiving yards and five touchdown receptions in six of his nine seasons. Cooks caught 57 passes for 699 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games last season, his third with the Texans with Davis Mills at quarterback. He caught a combined 171 passes for 2,187 yards and 12 touchdowns during his first two seasons in Houston, when Deshaun Watson was the quarterback.
The Texans finished with four wins in each of Cooks’ first two seasons. They won three games in 2022. Cooks had seen enough and wanted out.
Cooks was vocal about his unhappiness about being in Houston after the Texans failed to trade him before the deadline last season. Cooks, who played in back-to-back Super Bowls in 2018 and 2019, wanted no part of the Texans’ rebuilding project after the franchise traded Watson to the Cleveland Browns last season and hired DeMeco Ryans as their head coach in January, their third coach in three years.
For Cooks, the opportunity to play and contribute on a Super Bowl contender is rejuvenating.
“It motivates you. It makes you hungry. For me, I think of these past three years and not winning. Before that, I was used to winning. It brings that perspective back,” Cooks said. “It’s like look, I’m gonna show up and be the best teammate I can be and hopefully help Dallas overcome that hump. That’s what it’s all about. That’s my mindset. I just want to win.”
