Someone will emerge from the group now that their receptions will double. Would be cool to see Akins and Kahale with 50+ receptions each
Not sure what you mean by this? If you’re saying off the field, Cooks will act similar to Brown, that would be the most opposite from the truth.
Hate to say it, but I'd be surprised if Warring sees even 2 injured riddled NFL years. I want to see the Texans do well, but our receiver corp with Cooks is gonna be a MASH unit.
I mean he is making $11mil/yr for the next 4 years. Hopkins is making $13mil/yr for the next 3 years. Only the Texans would find the two receivers given their contracts to be roughly equal in value.
No. Smh dude . What cause Antonio clown to act like that. Ask burfict how hard he lit him. Gave him a concussion so bad he was never the same no more. Cooks keep on getting lit gonna end up like brown.
What are the Houston Texans doing? Seemingly undeterred by the backlash that followed after they traded away DeAndre Hopkins last month, the Houston Texans went in search of a replacement for Hopkins via trade on Thursday by sending the 57th overall pick to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for a future fourth-round pick and wide receiver Brandin Cooks. Only the (tanking?) New England Patriots hemorrhaged more value during the NFL free agency period than the Houston Texans, which is interesting given the number of win-now moves they have made during head coach Bill O'Brien's tenure as general manager. With Deshaun Watson in the last year before the fifth-year option of his rookie deal and almost no draft capital to speak of in the immediate future, the Texans probably view now as the time to compete in a weak AFC South — hence the move for Cooks. Cooks has been a very productive player through the first six seasons of his career, posting 1,000 yards each year from 2015 to 2018. He's earned the 12th-most WAR among wide receivers during that time, and he posted the second-most deep receiving yards (608) in the NFL during his first season with the Rams in 2017. Cooks' 2.3 career wins above replacement is far less than Hopkins' 4.8 — which is the third most at the position since 2013 — but it goes a decent part of the way towards replacing his possible production catching passes from Watson. While Hopkins has been the brilliant piece of the passing game puzzle for the Texans, it's well-chronicled how much worse the group is without its second wide receiver, Will Fuller V. Interestingly, if you look at their route heat maps, Fuller and Cooks run a lot of the same routes. Given Fuller's injury history — he's missed 22 games during his four-year career — and his redundancy with the newly acquired Cooks, it remains to be seen if this will be the last move that the Texans make at the position. The Texans, after all, still have Kenny Stills and the former Dallas Cowboy and Green Bay Packer Randall Cobb in the mix. With respect to Watson, whose time to throw (and, as a result, pressure rate) both decreased significantly in 2019, this is an interesting move for the young quarterback. Passes to Hopkins a season ago were let go in an average of 2.57 seconds, while Cooks never had a season with the Rams where his targets came faster than 2.66 seconds, and they got slower each year he was in L.A. While the New Orleans Saints operated with quicker times to throw with Cooks, his average depth of target has been above 13 each year since 2015, while Hopkins' was under 11 a season ago. If Houston wants to continue improving the way in which it protects its young signal-caller, it will either have to alter Cooks' game or replace Fuller directly with Cooks, which likely lowers the return on this trade. It's a positive move for the Rams to get some draft capital back in exchange for Cooks, a player with several concussion-related question marks, in a season where a number of the top players in the draft are wide receivers. Without a first-round pick since 2016 (with none coming up until 2022 due to the Jalen Ramsey trade) and plenty of holes to fill throughout the roster, it will be interesting to see where Sean McVay and his two new coordinators go with their selections at No. 52 and No. 57 in the second round. From a bird's-eye view, this looks like another head-scratcher for the Texans and O'Brien. With Deshaun Watson's rookie deal coming to a close, the space necessary to sign veterans simply won't be there in the future, but they continue to trade away assets that could be used to ensure that there is young talent in the pipeline to fill in once the quarterback is taking up an increasingly big part of the cap. While we are bullish on the former Clemson quarterback — who has earned almost five wins above replacement in two and a half seasons — winning amid this kind of decision-making will be tough moving forward.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/04/13/tua-tagovailoa-trent-dilfer-workout-urban-meyer Why was Brandin Cooks dealt again? Because it does seem strange, right? Well, in each case, there was a specific reason. With the Saints, there was friction over how he was being deployed. With the Patriots, his contractual demands would’ve upset the team’s salary structure, given that he was asking for (and eventually got) more than Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman were making. With the Rams, the concussion issue made him a guy that they were actually looking to move, as they sought to reorganize what was becoming a very top-heavy cap situation. And in each case, he went for considerable draft capital, reaping first-round picks for the Saints and Patriots, and a second-rounder for the Rams. But there is something overarching here that can contextualize how a 26-year-old with four 1,000-yard seasons, and a guy that all his coaches generally like, could be moved so many times. For an outside receiver, Cooks is, in fact, a smaller player. And for someone as fast as he is, coaches who’ve gotten him have noticed that he’s pretty stiff, which doesn’t allow for the wiggle that you need to separate in short areas as an inside receiver. So that winds up making him a little one-dimensional—he is very good down the field—and limits him on third down and in the red zone. Does it make him a bad player? No. He’s clearly a good player, even when accounting for the injuries. But is he worth $16 million per year, given those limitations? Probably not. That’s the level the Patriots and Saints balked at paying him. It’s also why the Rams traded him. And it’s pretty notable that the Texans are now getting him with four years and $47 million left on his deal, which puts him under $12 million per year. So really, if you add this up, it’s as much about how the money matches the player as anything.
Way too pessimistic for me, but to each his own. We have a lot of talent at wide receiver. The offenses production when Fuller is on the filed is testament to how much speed on the outside is important to this team. It is highly unlikely that both fuller and cooks are both out for long swaths of the season. Cooks in particular has been pretty good at staying on the field and you are ignoring what has come out about the low severity of his concussions. Cobb’s contract is ridiculous but he can be a very good slot receiver and on the outside for one year. Aikins looks to be progressing every year. Even if Fells falls off a cliff (unlikely) the jury is still out on Warring and Coutee.I think Bob is an idiot, but saying we are gonna suck this year is not practical. Our offense will be very good this year, it is the pass rush that still needs to be addressed to make us contenders.
That may very well be true - but they did not trade him for a #4-5 which gives the idea they had a higher pick in mind greater weight, doesn't it? I keep going back to two things: 1) what Kurt Warner said in the initial aftermath of the Hop trade, that elite WRs can dominate the ball in a way that can potentially stunt a young QB's growth; intellectually, this makes sense to me. I can't verify it - but I can point to Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo - even Tom Brady for the vast majority of his career..... there's *potentially* something to it. 2) is the WR group......... I won't argue *better* - and there will always be health concerns but...... does it look kind of, sort of.... interesting? Fuller, Cooks, Cobb, Stills........... It's certainly *different* and, while I think we can argue which is better (Hop + Fuller and Stills), I think the current group.... I mean, on paper, it looks...... good? A little more diversity, a bit deeper... As I've said from the beginning, the *idea* of trading Hopkins made sense on a few levels, and diversifying the WR corps may have been one of them. I just wish someone else had been in charge of the execution.
2016-'18: Hopkins: 289 rec., 3,904 yds; 28 TDs; 13.5 Y/R; 488 targets Cooks: 223 rec., 3,459 yds; 20 TDs; 15.5 Y/R; 348 targets - note the 140-target difference; Cooks was in Hopkins' stratosphere despite three fewer opportunities/game over three years. Take a look at this: Cooks, '16-'18 with 488 targets: 313 rec.; 4,805 yds; 28 TDs; 15.5 Y/R. I'm not arguing he's *better* - but he's *absolutely* elite if he's healthy, which he apparently was not in '19. And, let's not forget: he's younger and cheaper. If the Texans still had Hopkins *and* acquired Cooks, fans would be through-the-roof excited about this offense.
I agree. Nobody can with certainty predict which receiver will still be valuable 3 or 4 years from now. Cooks is 26, Hopkins is 28. Cooks production was close to Hopkins with many less targets. Yes, he missed a great deal of time in 2019, but we now know that his concussion history is not as devastating as first reported. I would have preferred re-signing Hyde to bringing in an overpaid running back, but I suspect our offensive will be much better this year with more speed, more experience on the OL and at QB. Hopkins was great and think we should have been able to get a first and a second for him, but his lost will not decimate this offense, at least for one year. If we can get an impact defensive lineman at 40 we will also be better defensively (especially with Romeo out of the picture). I think it will be a dogfight for the best division in football, but am confident the Texans will be in the playoffs once again.
The teams that find the Brandin Cooks, not the ones that pay him, are the ones that succeed long term. - Daryl Morey https://theathletic.com/1742350/ Hey, Jay. After the Texans traded for Brandin Cooks, does this put Houston in a potential playoff spot with an extra seed now there? What are your thoughts on the deal? —Cody M. It’s funny, you’re the first person I’ve seen talking about them in the playoffs. Bill O’Brien has gotten thrashed this offseason. I know that people have sent threats his way. C’mon people, it’s just football! Let’s not send death threats or any violent threats toward anyone in any sport. It’s just sports. It’s supposed to be escapism. The Rams didn’t hide that they were looking to trade Brandin Cooks and were looking to get some trade capital. They’ve given up so much for trades in the past. They have other young receivers they like and the way their offense is he was made expendable. Obviously, all the concussions Cooks has had, you have to be certainly wary of that. Even when Brandin Cooks came into this league, the reason why everyone loves him so much, he has the work ethic of an old grizzled veteran. Even as a rookie, he understood the importance of putting 24 hours into his craft. He is an ultimate pro. He is a great guy, that’s why teams are always looking to get him but I think teams are afraid to pay him that mega-contract, that’s why he ends up being expendable.
