{"id":19268,"date":"2025-01-15T00:42:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T00:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=19268"},"modified":"2025-01-15T00:42:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T00:42:45","slug":"breaking-the-cowboys-will-part-ways-with-their-40-million-star-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=19268","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: The Cowboys will part ways with their $40 million star this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cowboys<\/p>\n

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Getty<\/p>\n

Cowboys WR Brandin Cooks<\/p>\n

Over the last decade or so,\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0receiver\u00a0Brandin Cooks\u00a0has established himself as a consistent threat wherever he\u2019s been. He never quite cracked the realm of elite\u00a0NFL<\/a> receivers, but in five stops around the league, he racked up six 1,000-yard seasons in 11 years in the league.<\/p>\n

He spent the last two with the Cowboys, who acquired him in a trade for a fifth-round pick in 2023 and a sixth-rounder in 2024, and proved to be well worth that piddling price. Cooks had signed a\u00a0two-year, $40 million extension\u00a0the previous season, and the Texans mostly wanted him off their books.<\/p>\n

He proved to be a solid counterpoint to\u00a0CeeDee Lamb\u00a0in 2023, catching 54 passes for 657 yards and eight touchdowns. But in 2024,\u00a0Cooks struggled with a knee injury, and caught just 26 passes for 259 yards. Now, he\u2019s hitting free agency, and with the Cowboys looking to rebuild their receiving room going forward, Cooks is likely to land elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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Brandin Cooks Lost a Step<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In fact, at the Cowboys site,\u00a0Blogging the Boys, the consensus is that Cooks will not only leave, but will join the hated rival Commanders and former Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on a projected two-year, $18 million contract.<\/p>\n

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Cooks is 32, and with the Cowboys likely to find a playmaker in the draft, there just is no room for him in Dallas.<\/p>\n

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Writes BtB: \u201cThe Cowboys have so many holes to fill on their roster they\u2019ll likely need to go younger and cheaper at the receiver position. The biggest thing Dallas\u2019 current roster lacks at the receiver position is speed, and at this point of his career, Cooks has lost a step.<\/p>\n

With CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo, and Jalen Brooks all under contract next season, it seems likely the Cowboys will spend a high draft pick on a young receiver and let the veteran Cooks walk in free agency. The trade for Brandin Cooks was still one of Dallas\u2019 best offseason moves of the last decade, but it seems likely his time in Dallas has come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cowboys Could Swing Big on a Draft Receiver<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Cowboys could not only look to the draft for an answer at receiver, they could look to the first round. It\u2019s unlikely that projected top WR Tetairoa McMillan from Arizona would be available when Dallas picks (No. 12), but the Cowboys would be in range for a player like Luther Burden from Missouri or Emeka Egbuka from Ohio State.<\/p>\n

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If not one of those three, the Cowboys could well wait until the second round to take a receiver.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that Dallas could address the spot in free agency, but the class of players available is not very enticing and the Cowboys don\u2019t want to spend. Additionally, despite speculation they could get in on a trade for disgruntled Dolphins star Tyreek Hill, that is a long shot.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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  Getty Cowboys WR Brandin Cooks Over the last decade or so,\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0receiver\u00a0Brandin Cooks\u00a0has established himself as a consistent threat wherever he\u2019s been. He never quite cracked the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: The Cowboys will part ways with their $40 million star this offseason - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=19268\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: The Cowboys will part ways with their $40 million star this offseason - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Getty Cowboys WR Brandin Cooks Over the last decade or so,\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0receiver\u00a0Brandin Cooks\u00a0has established himself as a consistent threat wherever he\u2019s been. 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