“It sucks losing a talented receiver like Brandin Cooks, so, we never wanted to lose talented players,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans says of the Cowboys newcomer. “We’re really trying to acquire as many talented players as possible, so, it’s hard losing him.”

FRISCO – The Dallas Cowboys, led by coach Mike McCarthy, are elated with the Houston Texans having traded veteran receiver Brandin Cooks to The Star.

But not every coach in Texas is elated about it – namely, the coach in Texas who never got to coach Cooks.

“It sucks,” new Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans says of the swap, a major transaction that occurred in the wake of Ryans getting his first NFL head coaching job.

Having requested a trade last season at the trade deadline, it was clear that Cooks didn’t want to be on a team in the middle of a rebuild. The Texans chose to “do right” by Cooks and dealt him to a contender in Dallas.

That was not Ryans’ preference.

“It sucks losing a talented receiver like Brandin, so, we never wanted to lose talented players,” Ryans said. “We’re really trying to acquire as many talented players as possible, so, it’s hard losing him.”
Cooks, one of the NFL’s fastest players, is a consistent 1,000-yards-per-year receiver and was a team leader in Houston, even through three very difficult and losing seasons.

“I couldn’t be more hungry,” Cooks said. “Last three years, it is what it is. But when you step into a locker room like this and an organization … I mean, it’s definitely fueling the fire and that hunger to be able to come out here and just show up and help my team win.

“I can’t wait. I truly can’t.”

Said Dallas coach Mike McCarthy, while touting Cooks’ versatility: “I think if you’re going to line him up, his outside vertical routes, I think he’s exceptional.”

Houston will try to rebound at the position, maybe even in the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft, as the Texans own the No. 2 and the No. 12 pick.

And in Dallas? Cooks is essentially No. 2 on the pecking order in the receivers room for the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys, with CeeDee Lamb the Pro Bowl star and Michael Gallup sandwiched around him.
“I wish Brandin the best in Dallas,” said Ryans. “I know he’ll do well, but we have to move forward. Unfortunately, that’s part of the process, part of our business. You lose players at times.”