DALLAS — When veteran players, such as Brandin Cooks, reach the rightful age of 30, coaches are certainly taking note.
“You know you want to start being smart with them," Cowboys Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer told WFAA during training camp. "The game mentally has already slowed down for them, they’ve played so much football.”
That can certainly be said for Cooks, who immediately made his mark on the 2024 season with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. The score was the Cowboys' first of the season -- and set the tone for a dominant performance in the season opener.
It was nothing new for Cooks, who has been making an impact in the NFL for a decade now.
Last year, he caught 54 passes for 657 yards and eight touchdowns in his first season as a Cowboy. In 10 seasons heading into this years Cooks has reached the 1,000-yard plateau six times and has been a key weapon for the Saints, Patriots, Rams and Texans.
“He’s a helluva receiver," Prescott said during training camp. "It’s obvious he comes in each and every day and focuses on that. Talk about being present, he’s another one that does it better than anybody can."
Cooks said the mutual respect between him and Prescott goes a long way,
“It’s a great relationship because he can keep it honest with me, I keep it honest with him and then there’s no bad blood, we go to the next play," Cooks said.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is well aware of Cooks' contributions to this offense.
“I think we had a statistic last week that put up 2 out of every 3 catches that he made in the team work, the pre-season work, has been either a touchdown or a big play," McCarthy said during training camp.
And Cooks, like other seasoned veterans, are a reliable source for younger players.
“So he’s more like Coach Cooks now with some of the practices that we have," Schottenheimer said. "He gets so much not out of just the receivers but the entire offense."
