Cowboys Brandin Cooks Trade: Legitimate Deep Threat - Better Than OBJ?
FRISCO - Bob Hayes. Lance Rentzel. Alvin Harper.
On their Super Bowl teams, the Dallas Cowboys always sported the deep threat. The receiver that could get behind the secondary and change the game with a single, speedy catch. Hayes, Rentzel and Harper all averaged at least 19 yards per catch during their careers, among the highest in franchise history.
But recently quarterback Dak Prescott has been more dink-and-dunk than deep. In 2022 the Cowboys only had 10 completions of 25+ yards, tied for seventh-fewest in the NFL. Dallas and Dak needed a deep threat, and Sunday morning they went out and got one in Cooks.
Despite being 29 and being traded four times - tying Eric Dickerson's NFL record - Cooks has the speed and skill the Cowboys need. Since entering the league in 2014 he has 58 catches of 25+ yards. Only one player has more: Tyreek Hill.
The trade should at least temporarily mute critics of owner Jerry Jones, who in the past week has acquired two starters - Cooks and star cornerback Stephon Gilmore - for only a handful of late-round draft picks.
No way around it, the Cowboys made a mistake last offseason in trading Amari Cooper for only a fifth-round pick. In doing so, they overestimated the return from an ACL injury/the production of receiver Michael Gallup.
Maybe we should stay tuned, because until we hear otherwise (we're working on it) the Cowboys should still be courting Odell Beckham Jr., too ... depending on his price point.
But for now? In not giving in to OBJ's assumed money demands while letting receiver Noah Brown walk (to Houston) and in the end acquiring a proven, elite deep threat in Cooks (from Houston), they've gone a long way toward righting those wrongs.
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