Getty Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones greets a fan before an NFL game.
The Dallas Cowboys are steadily marching toward the 2023 season, and one of the team’s new pass-catchers is being called their “most dangerous” addition. The arrival of former Houston Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks has the potential to elevate the Cowboys’ offense.
Dallas was struggling to invigorate the offense late in the 2022 season, forcing the team to add a 33-year-old T.Y. Hilton as their primary stop-gap. The Cowboys followed up by trading for Cooks, and that move is now being hailed as the team’s most important move of the 2023 offseason by Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox.
“Adding Cooks was noteworthy because it will allow Dallas to find mismatches when going with three-receiver sets. It’s also big because it may help the passing game continue rolling after losing creative offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to the Los Angeles Chargers in the offseason,” Knox wrote.
Cooks isn’t coming to Dallas to compete for the No. 1 role, but instead draw attention away from players like WR CeeDee Lamb and give quarterback Dak Prescott a reliable, experienced option to come back to.
On paper, it should expand the offense’s capabilities. However, it will require a bounce-back season from Cooks to be fully effective.
Cooks Leaves Texans After Unfortunate Year
One of the more surprising facts about Cooks’ career is that he has six seasons with 1000 receiving yards or more and has never been named to the Pro Bowl or to an All-Pro squad of any kind.
Two of those seasons came with the Texans in 2020 and 2021, but 2022 was a bit of a setback. Besides having three different QBs start for Houston, Cooks also dealt with multiple injury issues and only played 13 games according to Pro Football Reference.
That being said, Cooks still totaled a respectable 699 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Those kinds of numbers would be fine for a No. 2 receiver with the Cowboys, although the team will likely hope for Cooks to have a seventh 1000-yard season.
Cooks will be 30 years old on September 25, and it will be interesting to see if 2022 injury issues and his age will factor into his production. Either way, Dallas needed a legitimate No. 2 option and more experience at WR and the former Oregon State star should satisfy both of those needs.
New Cowboys WR Speaks on CeeDee Lamb
After the trade bringing Cooks to the Cowboys became official, the new Dallas WR went on The Adam Schefter Podcast to speak on the move and his expectations. The 9-year NFL veteran made it clear that Lamb is the Cowboys’ No. 1 WR.
“CeeDee, you’re talking about a guy that’s been electric since the moment he stepped into this league, but you saw last year what he did to really just go into that mode of a true No. 1 receiver,” Cooks said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for his game from afar, and I hit him up and was like, ‘Look, I’m coming to just help.’ Like, there’s no ego.”
Lamb has established himself as one of the league’s most dynamic receivers, averaging over 1100 receiving yards per season in his first three years with the Cowboys.