The Kansas City Chiefs made a head-scratching inquiry recently to the Houston Texans. The Chiefs made a trade inquiry to the Texans regarding veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks, according to KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson on October 26.
Wilson wrote that the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams also reached out to Houston about Cooks.
“Nothing has advanced into anything that could be characterized as developing at this time heading into next Tuesday’s deadline,” Wilson wrote of the trade inquiries.
Does Cooks Trade Make Sense for KC?
Cooks, 29, entered the NFL as a first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2014. Since then, he has accumulated 8,168 receiving yards on 601 catches and has scored 49 total touchdowns (47 receiving, 2 rushing), per Pro Football Reference. This is all despite Cooks being traded three times during his NFL career, which includes stops with the New England Patriots and Rams as well.
In April, Cooks signed a two-year, $39 million extension with the Texans, which includes a $26.6 million cap hit in 2023, per Over The Cap. As a nine-year NFL veteran, there are few receivers that have been as consistently productive as Cooks has been and for as long. But his contract is a big financial constraint for any team that wants to bring him in. That includes the Chiefs, who currently have $3.4 million in available cap space this season, per the NFLPA’s Public Salary Cap Report.
Instead, next offseason Kansas City might want to pay a player like JuJu Smith-Schuster, who is younger and potentially cheaper than Cooks but has more upside.
Twitter Reacts to Chiefs Trade Chatter
Twitter users reacted to the Chiefs news regarding Cooks.
“Nah unless we’re going after a TRUE potential #1 WR,” one Twitter user wrote. “Give the passes to JuJu and MVS. They’re clicking on all cylinders don’t mess it up with an outsider who is a smaller MVS.”
“Maybe I just don’t understand (which is likely). Seems to me we have perfectly good wideouts , especially with Hardman getting healthy …and this 9er’s game proves that ( if and when ) our o-line gives Patty time, he can cook with anyone. Tackles and Edge is what this team needs,” another user wrote.
“Tbh after last weeks perfomance, not sure if we need to spend the money on a WR, it seems like we are doing fine in that department, we should focus on defense,” another user wrote.
“Reid’s offense is not plug n play – takes a while for WR to get acclaimed. Better to add on Def or get a RB who is already familiar with the offense (wink wink Hunt),” another user wrote.
“His cap is like 26 mill next year, if you are going to pay a wr that. We could have just kept tyreek for 30 million,” another user wrote.
“This can only mean Sky (Skyy Moore) isn’t ready to be in the mix yet,” another user wrote. “Dont over pay for him but could be a good addition.”
“Nah we don’t need him @Chiefs we straight in WR right now they clicking on all cylinders. We need a pass rusher like now!!!” another user wrote.
