Brandin Cooks’ final year with the Los Angeles Rams wasn’t representative of who he is as a player.
The former 2014 New Orleans Saints first-round pick caught 42 passes for 583 yards and two touchdowns, breaking up his streak of four consecutive seasons with 1,000-plus receiving yards. Cooks also saw his streak of consecutive seasons with 16 games played also halted as he missed two games with a concussion.
Only Benjamin Button gets younger as the years go by. Though Cooks will turn 27 years old on Sept. 25, he isn’t worried about his concussion problems lingering from last year.
“Zero,” Cooks stated when reporters asked Aug. 6 if he had concerns about his past concussions. “For me, I’m not worried at all. If there was any hesitation or worry, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Cooks takes the concussions in stride, believing they are a negative part of the game that one has to accept and not dwell on.
“At the end of the day, things happen in this game that you wish don’t happen,” Cooks said. “But when you start to learn through this process and you really start to get an understanding on what this is, there is just so much out there that people just don’t understand that goes into it.
“Everybody thinks, ‘oh, it’s just impact.’ But without going into specifics, I’m comfortable and I feel great and I look forward to continue to just do what I have to do and go out there and give it my all.”
The only year Cooks did not produce 1,000-plus yards in his first season with a team was his rookie year. However, he eventually delivered two 1,000-yard years to New Orleans before being traded to the New England Patriots for a one-season-only affair in 2017. Cooks’ 80 catches for 1,204 yards and five touchdowns were instrumental to helping the Rams reach Super Bowl LIII. Houston is hopeful they can generate the same results from Cooks in 2020.
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