The Dallas Cowboys have had a tough offseason, with players publicly beefing and big names leaving the team for greener pastures. Today, yet another big name has left the team in NFL free agency.
That big name is veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who is reportedly joining the team that drafted him, the New Orleans Saints, to add a veteran presence to their receiver room.
The Saints' top receivers currently are Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed who both dealt with serious injuries last season. That makes adding another receiver to the mix make sense for the Saints to do.
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Currently 31 years old, Cooks has had a solid career after being drafted in the first round out of Oregon State.
He spent three years with the Saints to start his career, putting up over 1,000 yards receiving in the last two seasons with the team.
He then joined Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, where he helped them reach a Super Bowl, but they fell short to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Cooks then went to the Los Angeles Rams, where he put up another 1,000-yard season, giving him 1,204 yards on 80 receptions. He made a second straight Super Bowl with the team, but lost once again, this time to his former team in the Patriots.
After a down season with the Rams, Cooks joined the Houston Texans for the 2020 season, where he returned to his consistent 1000-yard-season ways for two out of his three seasons with the team.
Finally, he joined the Dallas Cowboys for the previous two seasons, putting up solid numbers as the secondary receiving option to CeeDee Lamb.
Cooks had some injury issues last year, which gave the Cowboys reason to allow the former start to leave in free agency and return to the team that first gave him a chance when they selected him in the first round of NFL Draft with the no. 20 pick.
The Cowboys are left with younger options Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo, and KaVontae Turpin to fend for targets beyond Lamb and tight end Jake Ferguson, making the receiver position a likely focus of the NFL draft for the front office.
Many mock drafts have had them taking a receiver in the first round, including both Tetairoa McMillan and Matthew Golden.
While the Cowboys will likely miss having the veteran presence of Cooks in their receiver room, it is a nice story to see the veteran receiver return to the place that drafted him. Maybe the familiar atmosphere can help rejuvenate the former first-round pick's career.
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This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 11:22 AM.