It’s hard to fly under the radar when playing for the Dallas Cowboys, but Brandin Cooks never seems to garner a bright spotlight.
Although he overcame a sluggish start to score eight touchdowns, the veteran wide receiver had a relatively quiet first season in Dallas. Cooks remains an important contributor ahead of his 11th NFL season.
NFL.com’s Tom Blair named each team’s most underappreciated player ahead of the 2024 season. Cooks received that distinction for Dallas.
Blair noted that Cooks has never made a Pro Bowl despite registering six 1,000-yard seasons. He’s gotten traded four times during a commendable career that’s included just three playoff appearances.
“So even before 2023, he probably could have qualified for a ‘lifetime underappreciation award,'” Blair wrote of Cooks. “Now — as even he would admit — he is no longer the top pass-catching option on the field. That said, he’s kept his per-catch mark above 12 yards over the past two seasons, and he says he’s ‘ready to rock’ after picking things up in the second half last season. The volume might not be there, but he’s a consummate pro who can still play an important role for Dallas.”
Cooks is 10th in career receiving yards among active players, but he’s never exceeded 90 catches or nine touchdowns in a season. To Blair’s point, it also took him a while to gel with Dak Prescott last season.
Cooks tallied 165 receiving yards through his first seven games in Dallas before collecting 173 yards and a touchdown in a Week 10 over the New York Giants. He scored six times in the final nine games of the regular season and caught six of eight targets in a first-round playoff loss.
The 30-year-old returns to Dallas as Dak Prescott’s No. 2 wideout behind CeeDee Lamb. Cooks is a pivotal part of a Cowboys offense looking to make noise as a title contender in 2024.