Cowboys WR Noah Brown Signs with Texans; Brandin Cooks Trade Next?

The Dallas Cowboys have lost their No. 3 wide receiver Noah Brown to the Houston Texans. Will this force them to make outside additions?

The Houston Texans have agreed to a deal with Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Noah Brown that will officially be signed on Wednesday when the free agency window officially opens, according to multiple reports. 

Will this force Dallas to abandon its patient approach to free agency? Or was it already part of a plan that could lead a Texan to The Star?

Brown last year stepped into a larger role in the Cowboys' offense, functioning as the No. 3 wide receiver after Amari Cooper was traded in the offseason, without ever being truly replaced. 

Brown - a big-bodied wideout and one of those “ultimate pro” sort of guys inside the building - played in 16 games, recording a career-year finishing with 555 yards and three touchdowns on 43 catches. Brown's departure for the AFC South Texans means the Cowboys now potentially need to acquire two wide receivers. 

Prior to the deal with the Texans, the Cowboys were already being described as a wide receiver-needy team, as they were looking to add "playmaker juice" to an offense that was held to just one touchdown in the NFL Divisional Round loss to the San Francisco 49ers. 

Once the Cowboys lose tight end Dalton Schultz, Dallas will be down two of its top three pass-catchers statistically from a season ago. 

Luckily, Dallas still has plenty of options outside of just free agency, where they could finally sign Odell Beckham. But, they could also trade for another big name in DeAndre Hopkins or get that much-needed "juice" in speedy wide-out Brandin Cooks. …

And Cooks coming to Dallas on the heels of Brown going to Houston makes a nice, neat package.

So far, the Cowboys' inside-out approach to the legal tampering window, where they've prioritized re-signing their own over going to the outside for help, has led to mixed results at a time when they should be moving with urgency to add to an already talented roster. 

That, of course, can change … with one “juice” move.

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