Brandin Tawan Cooks is a wide receiver in the National Football League who plays for the Houston Texans. Cooks has had a long and productive career in the NFL, after a prolific collegiate career. A deep threat for several teams, Cooks is no stranger to taking the tops off of defense no matter who is teamed up with.
Brandin Cooks went to Lincoln High School in Stockton, California where he played football and basketball, in addition to running track. As a senior, Cooks hauled in over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns. In his recruiting class, Cooks was rated as a top-30 wide receiver. He originally opted to play his college football at UCLA, before changing his mind and deciding to play at Oregon State.
At Oregon State University, Brandin Cooks had a slow start to his collegiate career. In his first year as a Pac-12 player, Cooks had less than 400 receiving yards. But things took off for Cooks during his sophomore season. He became a 1,000 yard receiver for the first time in his college career in his second season as a Beaver.
As a junior, he won the Biletnikoff Award as the best wide receiver in the country, when he racked up over 1,700 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. After his wildly successful junior year, Cooks announced that he would be entering the NFL Draft instead of completing his senior season.
Brandin Cooks was selected with the 20th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. In his three years with the prolific Saints offense, Cooks reeled in at least 50 passes in each of his first three seasons as a pro, the vast majority of which came from Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees.
Cooks went to the New England Patriots for a year after that, spending 2017 catching passes from Tom Brady. He was used as a deep threat in the New England offense, averaging a career-high 16.6 yards per catch that season. Since then, Cooks has spent two years with the Los Angeles Rams and one year with the Houston Texans.
Cooks has appeared in the postseason twice in his career, once with the Rams and once with the Patriots. He has averaged over 15 yards per catch in two postseasons, getting to two Super Bowls in the process. He was a part of the Patriots when they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII and was with the Rams when they lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
In his career, Brandin Cooks has had just one year where he has had under 50 receptions in a season. That came in 2019 with the Rams, who spread the ball around to a number of weapons. Cooks also missed two games that year, only playing 14 games that season. In his career, Cooks has never had more than one fumble in a season. Heading into his seventh season in the NFL, Cooks has had just four total fumbles for his career, meaning that he keeps the ball when he catches it. His consistency has made him an asset for all of the teams that he has played for in his career.
Brandin Cooks signed a five-year, $80 million deal with the Los Angeles Rams in 2018 before he was sent to the Houston Texans in 2020 via trade. Cooks has an estimated net worth of $14 million. Cooks has endorsement deals with Bose, Fanatics and Reebok to his name to go along with the income that he has generated on the field.
Brandin Cooks is the son of Worth Cooks and Andrea Cooks. He has three brothers. He is married to his longtime girlfriend Briannon Lepman. The couple is expecting their first child, who was conceived via in vitro fertilization.
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