Brandin Cooks has made a living of moving on and producing at a high level at every stop in his career. Cooks, now a member of the Texans, immediately becomes the most accomplished receiver on the team. And at this point, Cooks is being extremely undervalued in redraft. He is currently ranked as WR 37 according to Fantasy Pros.
The Evidence
Chart per Pro Football Reference
As you can see, Cooks has been a highly productive receiver with every stop. It doesn’t matter if he was new to the roster or not. He hasn’t always been the most targeted receiver on his team. Only twice has this happened in his career. Once with the Saints in 2015 and once with the Patriots in 2017– yet he’s still put up four 1,000-yard seasons.
So Cooks doesn’t need to be the absolute focal point of an offense to be productive. The situation in Houston might allow for that to be the case. He’s now the best receiver on a team that just lost a 150-target receiver (Hopkins) Also, the other receivers (Fuller and Stills) have had trouble staying on the field (126 total targets last year). This could easily be the best place yet for Cooks to succeed. He finds himself paired with a strong-armed quarterback that likes to push the ball downfield in an offense that doesn’t have a true number one receiver. According to PFF Watson graded out as their number two deep-ball thrower (passes over 20 yards downfield) in 2019.
Also, when looking at attempts according to Player Profiler, Watson finished 4th in deep-ball attempts. Both stats show how Cooks and Watson are a great match. Even when Cooks was the most targeted receiver in New England, you could argue the offense did not fit his skillset. Yet, he still thrived and finished as a top 15 wide receiver! In Houston, the offense fits his skill set much better, and he can run all the routes on the route tree. Look for Cooks to get a huge share of the targets on an offense with a top-five quarterback. This is exactly what you are looking for in every fantasy draft.
Only six receivers in NFL history have produced over 5,000 receiving yards before turning 26 years old. The group includes Randy Moss, Mike Evans, Larry Fitzgerald, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, and Brandin Cooks. If you look at the consensus rankings of Evans and Cooper, they sit at WR 8 and WR 13 respectively in PPR scoring. Cooks, meanwhile, is standing at WR 37 according to Fantasy Pros consensus rankings.
Cooks may bring some risk due to his concussion history, but he still played 14 games last year in a disaster season for the Rams. And he has a history of success. He finished as WR 13 in 2018, WR 15 in 2017, WR 10 in 2016, and WR 13 in 2015 (PPR scoring).
The Advice
Cooks is no slouch, and I believe he will have a career year in 2020 with the Houston Texans. He can be had for a 6th round draft pick according to Fantasy Football Calculator … I am not leaving my draft without Brandin Cooks, and I am willing to take him over the likes of AJ Brown, Courtland Sutton, Devante Parker, Tyler Lockett, DJ Chark, Stefon Diggs, and more. I think Cooks regains his borderline WR 1 value. Even grabbing him a round or two earlier than consensus could bring back extreme value. Fantasy is a game of risks and rewards, and Cooks will have an opportunity to be one of the best gets in fantasy this season.
Thanks for reading this article. You can follow me @Cmoney52 on twitter. I am happy to discuss and chat about your fantasy teams as well. Any questions, queries, or feedback feel free to drop by.
