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There are plenty of players who become discounted despite what they can do because of their age. Once players reach the back half of their twenties, dynasty managers begin to fade them for younger prospects. An example of this is Amari Cooper, who I recently discussed as being a league winner despite being faded to the mid-rounds. Another player that falls in line with this thinking is Brandin Cooks, the Dallas Cowboys’ new wide receiver that they recently traded for.
How Did We Get Here?
The NFL journey for Brandin Cooks has been one crazy adventure considering the number of teams he’s been on. The New Orleans Saints drafted him back in 2014, which is where he spent the first three years of his career. Next, he was traded to the New England Patriots, then to the LA Rams, and then to the Houston Texans.
Cooks had a range of outcomes each of those years, ranging from being a WR1 to having a couple of seasons where he would have barely been a flex consideration. However, he has typically been as consistent as they come and should be in consideration as an addition to your fantasy leagues. Now that Cooks has been traded again, this time to the Dallas Cowboys, he will join one of the more dominant offenses in the league.
Another New Beginning
Home, sweet home. At least it should be for Brandin Cooks given the outlook of where he is coming from. Cooks spent three years on an abysmal Texans’ offense that had the 8th least amount of passing yards and was bottom three in yards per attempt last season. He had two seasons there where he was a WR2, but he was trending in the wrong direction, going from WR16 to WR20, and finally WR49 last season.
Now, Brandin moves a short three hours to the north to Dallas. The Cowboys focused more on the ground game than the passing game, as they had the 19th most passing attempts compared to their 6th most rushing attempts. However, they were efficient with what passing they did do, as they had 11 yards per reception and the 10th most touchdowns. Plus, after they moved on from Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys might be changing their game plan to be a more pass-heavy offense. They still have the always-electric Tony Pollard, but there are questions as to whether or not he’ll hold up to the workload.
Another reason why they were running so much might be because there really wasn’t anyone else to catch the ball outside of star receiver CeeDee Lamb. Michael Gallup is there, but he was beaten out by Noah Brown in total receptions and total yards. Still, neither of them broke 600 reception yards. Brandin Cooks is a far better receiver than either of them and that might allow them to change the game plan. He’s already showing great chemistry with Dak Prescott, which should excite fantasy managers to the possibilities.
Crunching The Numbers
As stated, Brandin Cooks has been all over the board in terms of his finishes. In his third year in the league he finished as WR9 in PPR, but last year he finished as WR49 when he missed four games and averaged 11.2 PPG. Cooks’ worse finish was in 2019, which was his last year with the LA Rams when he ended the year as WR62 on the year and he averaged just 8.4 PPG. As much as I like Cooks this year, it needs to be acknowledged that he has had some lackluster years.
Here I am giving you all this doom and gloom after telling you that you need to acquire him?! Just wait, it gets better.
Out of the nine seasons that Brandin has played in the NFL, he has finished as a WR2 or better in six of those years. Over those six seasons, he has averaged 15 PPG, which is solid WR2 numbers. He’s broken 1000 yards each of those six seasons and averaged 13.6 yards per reception over the entirety of his career. Add in the fact that this is the best offense that he has been in since he was with the Rams, and there is a good amount of potential there.
Acquisition Inquisition
Now that there is an understanding as to why you should be acquiring him, let us talk a little bit about how to acquire him.
The best place to make sure you have him on your team is making sure you leave your startup drafts with him. Looking at Razzball’s consensus ADP, you can see that Cooks has an ADP of 95, which is the end of the 8th round. That is enough to put him down to WR41 coming off the board in startups. You are looking at players who are going to be flexed at best in that area. Cooks should easily outperform his ADP over the next couple of years while he is still with the Cowboys, which means he can be a key addition to a win-now approach to dynasty.
Of course, if you already have your team and Cooks is not on it, you might have to look at trading for him. I would feel comfortable sending a 2nd or a couple of 3rd round picks to try to acquire him if I am in position to make a push for the championship. Beyond that most trades will be situational, but it is something that should be attempted, especially now before the season starts and his value goes up more. If the manager in your league that has him is rebuilding, now would be a great time for them to offload an older receiver that you could use on your team.
That’s a Wrap
There are lots of options at wide receiver, but few have the track record that Brandin Cooks has while being this easy to acquire. His consistency is the kind of thing I keep preaching about wanting on your team. He’s had some lows, but a majority of his career has been on the right side of things and you should expect him to outperform whatever his cost is. It has been a while since he has had a quarterback that plays at Dak Prescott’s level, which is why you should acquire him now before people begin to see a connection between them. Cooks might be older, but he is aging like a fine wine. Make sure you have a glass before it is too late.
For more from Rich and his Razzball content, find him on Twitter @gingerbe3rdman.
