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The Houston Texans suffered a major blow to the receiving corps after trading away wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Fortunately, wide receiver Brandin Cooks is optimistic that there is more than enough talent to fill the void in the 2020 NFL season.
Parting ways with a wideout of Hopkins' caliber was arguably the most perplexing move of the offseason. Cooks said in an interview with NFL Network's James Palmer that tasking this group with picking up the slack will pay huge dividends for the passing game as a whole, (via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk):
“You know I look at it from the standpoint of first and foremost you talk about a guy in Hopkins who is just a special player … So you look at it and there’s no question on why you want to continue to get the ball to him because he makes things happen. But now I think what we have is we have so many special guys in this room who can do it all. One of the biggest things I’ve always thought as a receiver is when you’re stacked on a team with multiple receivers, you have a better chance of winning consistently and going far, because you can never just key on one guy. I think that unselfishness in the room I feel for the guys already is going to do us justice in the long run for sure.”
Cooks is slated to play a major role in helping to alleviate the departure of Hopkins after Houston acquired him from the Los Angeles Rams. He is coming off a rough 2019 campaign that saw him register a mere 42 receptions for 583 yards and two touchdowns.
Fortunately, one of the silver linings from Cooks' time with the Rams is that he became accustomed to working in a committee on the outside. He will now be part of a receiver group that includes some established names such as Randall Cobb, Kenny Stills and Keke Coutee.
Of course, the deciding factor could come down to whether or not wide receiver Will Fuller can stay healthy. But if the Texans have their full complement of receivers at their disposal, it could lead their passing game to take the team further than if they had just one big star for defenses to focus on.
