What is Brandin Cooks’ 2020 fantasy football outlook? Coming into the 2019 campaign, Cooks was coming off of an impressive four consecutive seasons with more than 1,000 receiving yards. To make it even more special, the then-26-year old had achieved this feat in three different systems with three different quarterbacks.
The 2018 version of Cooks was a handful of yards behind leading receiver Robert Woods in a Rams offense that could move the ball seemingly at will. He was also receiving passes from the $100,000,000 right arm of Jared Goff.
What could go wrong?
The 2019 Brandin Cooks Debacle
In 2019, Copper Kupp was healthy for a full season, Woods became a prominent piece of the offense, Goff stopped throwing TDs for the full month of November, and Cooks saw his targets drop off nearly 40% from 117 in 2018 to just 72 in 2019.
On top of that, Cooks missed games for the first time since his rookie season. He suffered multiple concussions throughout the year and playing only a handful of snaps from Week 8 through Week 11.
See Where Brandin Cooks Lands In Our 2020 Wide Receiver Rankings
It was the perfect storm to knock Cooks off of everyone’s fantasy radar and for good reason. Another promising young WR lost in a system that couldn’t get him the ball due to injuries and a crowded offense.
Right?
Maybe not.
2020 Brandin Cooks Outlook in Houston
Cooks is now the WR1 for the Houston Texans. Deshaun Watson lost DeAndre Hopkins during the offseason and one of the only people brought in to replace him is Cooks. People need to remember that Cooks is still just one season away from a 1,200-yard campaign on 80 catches, ranking as the WR13 in PPR.
The only other piece that was brought in to compete for targets was Randall Cobb. Cobb, however, seems like more of a slot piece to compete with Keke Coutee rather than impact Cooks’ outside work replacing Hopkins.
The targets are there for Cooks in Houston, as they had 150 targets vacated from Hopkins alone. These targets likely won’t all be sent Cooks’ way, as Will Fuller, Coutee, and Kenny Stills are also pieces of the offense. However, Cooks could easily see triple-digit targets again in Houston from a top-tier QB in Watson.
The Fantasy Impact of the DeAndre Hopkins-David Johnson Deal
Between Fuller, Cooks, Cobb, Coutee, Stills, Jordan Akins, and Darren Fells, Stills and Coutee seem to be the odd men out. Stills’ speed is replaced by Cooks and Cobb takes the slot position away from Coutee.
The 150 Hopkins targets can be spread with 100 to Cooks and 50 to Cobb easily. Meanwhile, both will likely also steal targets away from the combined 146 that Coutee, Akins, and Stills had 2019.
It’s easy to find 100+ targets for Cooks this year in Houston, and if Watson throws his way 100 times, there’s reason to believe he will be extremely relevant in fantasy once again.
Here are Brandin Cooks’ fantasy rankings in his career with 100+ targets:
2018: WR13
2017: WR15
2016: WR10
2015: WR13
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What about his health?
The Texans seem to believe Cooks can put these numbers up again, despite the concussion concerns (Cooks has suffered five in his career). Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said last month that he feels “really good” about Cooks’ health and the team doesn’t seem concerned about it for this season or beyond. They made that clear when they traded for him to replace the elite Hopkins.
Brandin Cooks Fantasy Outlook: Top-10 Again?
If Cooks remains healthy in 2020, he will easily land in the WR10-WR15 range again. His current ADP has him being drafted as the WR30. Others then in that range include of Chase Claypool, N’Keal Harry, DeVante Parker, and Will Fuller.
At his price, the 27-year old is a prime target to outperform in 2020 and beyond.
