Is Brandin Cooks worth the money for the Houston Texans?
To Cooks’ credit, he’s one of the six wide receivers in franchise history (Arian Foster and Owen Daniels are the two non-WRs on that list) to have over 2,000 yards receiving. While that’s impressive, it also shows that Houston has been desolate at the wide receiver position outside of the time that Andre Johnson and Hopkins roamed the field.
So keeping Cooks to give Mills a target is a priority when looking at it through this lens. But does Cooks change the game as much as other top receivers do? Take this with a grain of salt, but the answer to that question is no. It was primarily due to the struggles of the Texans offense last season, but even when playing with Deshaun Watson, Cooks only had six touchdowns.
So while still effective in the receiving yards category, Cooks has never scored more than nine touchdowns in a season. So what should the Texans do?
Houston should give him a fair offer, but nothing in the Adams/Diggs/Hill range. Cooks does not score enough to demand such a big contract. And should Cooks decline it and walk, nothing changes in the grand scheme of things. It’s a rebuild, and a team’s best pieces should be on their way out as a new era begins.
It’s another “wait and see” situation for Houston.