Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy on Brandin Cooks’s Lack of Production: ‘I Don’t Play Fantasy Football’

The veteran wide receiver has been targeted just 29 times this season.

After the Cowboys’ latest loss to the Eagles on Sunday, Mike McCarthy got into a discussion with reporters discussing ball distribution on the offense. Specifically, he spoke Monday about Brandin Cooks and was asked about the wideout’s limited catches—something McCarthy appeared to take exception toward. 

He gave a blunt answer when discussing Cooks’s limited production. 

“I don’t play fantasy football,” McCarthy said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “We have game plans. I think it’s important, this is general for guys, because our system is built on making the quarterback successful.”

Cooks ended Sunday’s 28–23 loss with just one catch for seven yards on two targets. On the season, the 30-year-old has 17 catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns in seven games. Dallas traded for Cooks in March and there was an immediate expectation that he’d be heavily involved in the offense given his track record, finishing five seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards heading into 2023. 

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Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks (3) during the first quarter against the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium :: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

Cooks has been targeted a total of 29 times this year but McCarthy harped on the fact that Cooks is a big reason why the passing game thrived Sunday despite it not showing up in the box score. It doesn’t sound like the Cowboys coach will be making any big changes anytime soon. 

“We had a tremendous amount of production in the pass game and Brandin and all the guys are part of that. I get it,” he continued. “You want to see the ball spread out to everybody, which it was. Anytime a guy comes up short, you want to see him get more targets and more opportunities. He’s as good of a pro as I’ve worked with and we’ll definitely focus on that moving forward. But he’s still part of that production.”