It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue with the wide receivers. Today, we take a look at one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, but a player that fantasy managers continuously find ways to hate. I present to you the Rodney Dangerfield of wide receivers: Brandin Cooks.
Brandin Cooks ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: WR20, 54 overall
Average Auction Value: $3.0
Brandin Cooks Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2021 | 16 | 16 | 134 | 90 | 1037 | 6 | 8.38 | 5.63 | 67.2% | 7.74 | 11.52 |
| 2020 | 15 | 15 | 119 | 81 | 1150 | 6 | 7.93 | 5.40 | 68.1% | 9.66 | 14.20 |
| 2019 | 14 | 14 | 72 | 42 | 583 | 2 | 4.50 | 2.63 | 58.3% | 8.10 | 13.88 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2021 | 141.8 | 186.8 | 231.8 | 8.9 | 11.7 | 14.5 | 1.06 | 1.39 | 1.73 |
| 2020 | 151.0 | 191.5 | 232.0 | 10.1 | 12.8 | 15.5 | 1.27 | 1.61 | 1.95 |
| 2019 | 75.5 | 96.5 | 117.5 | 5.4 | 6.9 | 8.4 | 1.05 | 1.34 | 1.63 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2021 | 1410 | 10.6 | 355 | 2.67 | 3.94 | 39% | 27% |
| 2020 | 1347 | 11.3 | 362 | 3.04 | 4.47 | 29% | 24% |
| 2019 | 1004 | 13.9 | 169 | 2.35 | 4.02 | 23% | 13% |
2022 Brandin Cooks Fantasy Football Overview:
Last season, Brandin Cooks went as the #80 overall pick, and WR32 overall. I screamed and yelled and hooted and hollered that you needed to get him onto your roster. “But who is throwing him the ball?” people would ask. And the answer to that question? It doesn’t matter. It’s never mattered. We know now what Jared Goff is as a football player, and Brandin Cooks went for 1,200 yards in his full season with Goff in 2018. In fact, he’s gone for at least 1,000 yards in six of his eight seasons, except the 2019 season and the 2014 (his rookie year) season. Also, he’s done it with four franchises.
Brandin Cooks is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL but we invent reasons to not like him. “He’s an injury risk,” is another common refrain. But, the man has missed three games in the last seven seasons. There’s no real reason to not like Brandin Cooks, as there’s nobody coming for his targets in Houston, and he had 134 of those last year. I do not fear John Metchie or Nico Collins stealing touches from the best player on the Texans’ offense by far. Cooks finished last year as WR20 and is going as WR25 in drafts. But, that isn’t the most disrespectful part.
2022 Brandin Cooks Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Brandin Cooks Salary Cap Value: $2
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
Brandin Cooks is $3 in salary cap drafts.
Brandin Cooks is $3 in salary cap drafts.
Brandin Cooks is $3 in salary cap drafts.
Okay, I lied, it’s $3.2. But still, he is the single best deal on any wide receiver in this silly game that we play. He’s not only less than Michael Thomas, Courtland Sutton, and Amon-Ra St. Brown, he’s about half their cost in salary cap drafts. He is 20 cents more than Jameson Williams, who might not even play this year! His price point in salary cap drafts is bonkers, and I would gladly pay $10 and consider it a steal for Brandin Cooks. Do the same thing, and go get him in snake drafts, too (WR25, pick 64 overall).
I don’t have much to say about Brandin Cooks except that he smashed all question marks and produced above and beyond expectations for him in 2021 and it moved him up five WR slots and 16 picks of ADP. It’s a travesty of monumental proportions. Please just draft Brandin Cooks, for the love of all that’s holy.
Best Case Scenario:
Brandin Cooks goes for over 100 catches, 1,000 yards, and 10 touchdowns as the focal point of the Texans’ offense.
Worst Case Scenario:
Zero downsides. None. Zip, zilch, nada. But since I have to put something here, uhh… Davis Mills’ neck keeps growing and eventually his head tips over and concusses Brandin Cooks 30 yards downfield.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Brandin_Cooks_LA_RAMS_%2849133462747%29.jpg, cropped under CC BY-SA 2.0]
