The Houston Texans traded star wide receiver Brandin Cooks to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. In return for arguably their best offensive player, the Texans will receive a fifth-round pick in 2023 and a sixth-round pick in 2024.
There are a couple of reasons why the Cooks trade isn't great for the Texans ... Houston is paying over a quarter of his salary for next season: Texans pay $6 million and Dallas pays the remaining $12 million. Also, without Cooks, Houston has a thin receiver room of Robert Woods, Nico Collins, and John Metchie III.
ESPN gave Houston a C- grade for the trade:
Cooks was one of the most reliably productive wide receivers in the league until last year. In 2020 and 2021, he averaged 2.3 and 2.1 yards per route run, respectively. But that number dropped to 1.7 in 2022, albeit it in a poor Houston offense with Davis Mills at QB. His Receiver Tracking Metrics overall score also dropped, from 67 to 60 to 42 over those three seasons. But Cooks -- who is only 29 years old -- was also unhappy in Houston and was frustrated when he wasn't dealt at last year's trade deadline, so that could have affected his play. I like his chances to return to form with the Cowboys.
From Houston's perspective, I would trade Cooks for the best price I could get right now -- and presumably this is that. I'm a little surprised the Texans had to eat the $6 million, but less so considering the receiver market this offseason. But they get a deduction in the grade for not trading Cooks at the deadline last season. I don't know what the Texans were offered at the time, but I have to think it was better than two late-round picks. Chase Claypool was dealt for an early second-round pick to a non-contender at that point. By holding onto him for the second half of the year, the Texans failed to take advantage of the value of Cooks' low 2022 salary in terms of trade return and let him get older for nothing, since they weren't in contention for anything last season
The move might not have been aced by Houston but it was relatively necessary as Cooks made it clear at the end of the 2022 campaign that he no longer wanted to be a part of a rebuild with the Texans.
The Texans have the worst odds to win the AFC South and undoubtedly need more talent on their roster, especially at the receiver position. Houston owns two first-round picks and is in a prime position to change the trajectory of their franchise once the draft rolls around in April.
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