Brandin Cooks Trade to Browns? What’s Texans Payoff for Deshaun Watson Reunion?

Does a Brandin Cooks reunion with exiled Texans QB Deshaun Watson make sense? It does - if Houston “wins the trade.”

We are still working under the assumption that in Brandin Cooks’ perfect world, he’d prefer the Houston Texans trade him to a contender.

We are also still working under the impression that the Cleveland Browns - even as they are exiting a failed 2022 season - view themselves as a contender.

So … does a Cooks reunion with exiled Texans QB Deshaun Watson make sense?

The folks at Bleacher Report have proposed a swap that would send Cooks to the Browns. Cleveland would send the No. 99 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and a 2024 third-round pick to Houston in exchange for Cooks.

Wait a minute … two mid-round picks, one of them a future … for a player who at the trade deadline nearly netted Houston a “second-round pick plus” in talks with the Dallas Cowboys?

Salary-dumping was an issue at the time, and Cooks’ money is still something to be wrestled with, for the Texans and for prospective bidders.

It’s surely a fun thought in Cleveland, assuming they remain believers in Watson and their $250 million guaranteed investment in him.

Cooks and Amari Cooper and playmakers at tight end and Nick Chubb at running back as the centerpiece?

It’s surely all very tantalizing for Cleveland. But Houston has been almost painfully patient in its waiting on right Brandin Cooks swap. 

The Texans need a bidding war and they need to “win the trade.” This proposal doesn’t do that. Ideally for the Texans, GM Nick Caserio will do that.

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