Brandin Cooks is on the move again. The Houston Texans agreed to trade the big-play wide receiver to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, in the fourth trade of his career. Since 1980, only one player has been traded that many times: Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson.
Houston received the same compensation for Cooks that the New Orleans Saints got for defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson last year: a 2023 fifth-round pick and a future sixth-rounder.
Cooks was picked out of Oregon State by the Saints in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft, but a dispute with his role in the offense after the arrival of Michael Thomas in 2016 led to his first trade a year later. The Saints sent Cooks and a fourth-round pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for first- and third-rounders that became a pair of Pro Bowlers (right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and defensive end Trey Hendrickson).
Cooks went coast to coast when the Patriots shipped him out to the Los Angeles Rams in 2018. Cooks signed a five-year contract extension with the Rams that summer, but Houston acquired him just two years later in a trade with L.A. He’ll probably be thankful that his latest trade is staying in-state rather than going from New Orleans to New England to Southern California. If you’re curious, the Saints will play against the Texans in 2023, but they aren’t scheduled to see Cooks and the Cowboys again until 2024.
