The Rundown: Brandin Cooks is a calculated risk for the Texans

Wide receiver Brandin Cooks is the latest player that is part of Houston Texans vision for Bill O'Brien.

Kelvin Kuo-USA Today

The wheeling and dealing of head coach Bill O'Brien have not stopped, and this time it ended with the Houston Texans landing wide receiver Brandin Cooks in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams. The Texans sent their 2020 second-round selection (5th overall) to the Rams for Cooks and a 2022 fourth-round pick. 

Now with Cooks in the mix for the Texans, it continues to show O'Brien's full steam ahead approach to landing players at all costs to improve his team. 

How does Cooks change the Texans? We take a closer look. 

Speed on the Outside, the Scheme Fit

The Texans continue to build an offense around Deshaun Watson's better traits as a quarterback, getting the ball downfield. Adding Brandin Cooks to the outside or inside, with Kenny Stills and Will Fuller, give the offense a full complement of receivers that can stretch defenses. 

The scheme addition of Cooks allows space to be had for Cobb, the tight ends, and the running backs to catch passes in one-on-one situations to eat up yards. 

The Texans are looking for explosive plays to continue to help Watson evolve as a quarterback. 

Calculated Risk 

Cooks' concussion situation is something to be cautious about moving forward. He has had three concussions in the last 17 games but somehow only missed two regular-season games in the process. Since 2015, Brandin Cooks has had the opportunity to play in 80 regular-season games. He has missed two. 

Add in Cooks' relationship with Executive VP of Football Operations Jack Easterby. The Texans are banking on their relationship from their days in New England to help him get back to his playmaking form. 

There is definitely risk involved with the addition of Cooks, but the Texans appear comfortable with landing a player like Cooks for the upcoming season to help the wide receiver group. 

Two Fold Addition. 

The addition of Cooks comes at an interesting time. Not only to help the group for the 2020 season and give them much needed depth at wide receiver. 

1.) Cooks arrives to help a wide receiver group that has health issues with Will Fuller, but both are vertical threats. It was clear last season with no vertical presence. The Texans struggled to move the football. Cooks has the ability to play inside or outside. It gives the Texans a chance to get both Cooks and Fuller on the field at the same time. Either way, the Texans have a good chance of keeping a vertical threat on the team for 16 games between Cooks and Fuller. 

2.) The other situation to look at is Cooks is the safety net for the 2021 season with both Will Fuller and Kenny Stills, both unrestricted free agents after the 2020 season. The Texans are on the hook for $8 million for Cooks' contract and $12 million in 2021 if they plan to keep him. Both are relatively manageable cap numbers giving the team a receiver to have in the group outside of this season. 

No True Number One

The Texans appear to be going into the season with no clear cut go-to wide receiver but opting for a group of receivers that can handle their own when the ball is thrown their way. It will be more of a balanced approach for the Texans with their wide receiver group with threats at each position and evening out the field with speed or quickness. 

Watson is going to have to retrain himself and develop the offense to finding the open receivers and with more depth at the wide receiver group. There will be plenty of options for Watson to choose from. 

Bill O'Brien Better Hope He is Right

By moving DeAndre Hopkins, the Texans went into spreading money around to pay the likes of David Johnson, Randall Cobb, and Brandin Cooks. With Hopkins in discussions with the Arizona Cardinals on a new deal, the Texans are using his potential "pay-raise" to bring in more skill players versus just paying one. 

With that said, moving draft picks to land veteran players appears to be the plan that O'Brien wants to put in place — finding players that are on the outs with their past team and collecting them on the Texans. 

They are focusing on players like Gareon Conley, Laremy Tunsil, Vernon Hargreaves, Kenny Stills, Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson, David Johnson, and now Brandin Cooks. O'Brien is looking at other team's rosters and finding players who are on the outs with their current teams and attempting to revive their careers in Houston. 

O'Brien has been aggressive at all costs, and it is leaving many people questioning his method of madness. With pushing picks for veteran players, O'Brien is testing the limits on how NFL teams should be built. 

Cooks is the latest addition to this grand experiment. 

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