When you think of Brandin Cooks, you probably think of an average wide receiver. This is especially true when it comes to fantasy football. The majority of fantasy managers prefer players like Amari Cooper, Michael Pittman, A.J. Brown, Terry Mclaurin, DJ Moore or DK Metcalf. Yet, even in what was considered a mediocre season for Brandin Cooks, he averaged more points per game than all of the receivers I just listed.
Coming into this season, those same recievers have an ADP lower than Cooks (excluding Amari Cooper who is being taken at near identical ADP). This means it is costing you more draft capital for a worse overall fantasy player. This is not a new trend for Brandin Cooks, however. He has been disrespected by the fantasy football community year after year.
Redraft History by ADP
2021 Season
Using Fantasy Football Calculator’s archive of previous years’ drafts, we see that Cooks was drafted, on average, as the 42nd wide receiver taken off the board. Cooks ended the year as the WR16 in fantasy football with only 16 games played. This means that Cooks was drafted about 26 spots below his value! Still not convincing? Let’s look at 2020.
2020 Season
Using the same data with the 2020 season, Brandin Cooks was on average the 32nd wide receiver taken off the board. Cooks finished the season with over 1000 yards and finished as the WR17 in just 15 games played. In 2019 Cooks had basically his only down year. This was due to essentially being written out of the game script in the Rams offense. 2018, 2017, and 2016 all have similar stories to his 2021 season, though.
2018 Season
In 2018, Cooks was drafted on average as WR24 and finished as WR13 in 15 games played.
2017 Season
2017, Cooks was drafted on average as the WR8. This was the only year he was over-drafted; as he finished WR15 on the year.
2016 Season
In 2016, Cooks was drafted on average as WR14 and finished the year as WR10 in fantasy football in 15 games played.
“But his QB is Davis Mills!”
The Texans are committed to building around Davis Mills as their quarterback. Brandin Cooks excelled last year when Mills was under center. With Mills playing quarterback, Cooks averaged 9.8 targets per game. To put that into perspective, only Diontae Johnson, Davante Adams, and Cooper Kupp averaged more targets per game.
According to Sal Vetri, Cooks averaged 31% more points per game when Davis Mills was QB. Cooks averaged 67 yards on 6.2 receptions per game with an average of .4 touchdowns per game. This averages to about 15.53 fantasy points per game. If Cooks had Mills the entire season, it would have equated to him being the WR13 in fantasy football last year.
Surprise, Cooks is undervalued in 2022 again
Brandin Cooks’ current ADP is WR25 according to FantasyPros, and even as low as WR29 on other sites. A lot of critics like to mention Cooks’ injury history. While his total number of injuries is jarringly high – mainly due to concussions – he has only missed five games since the start of the 2017 season.
I have Brandin Cooks ranked at WR14 for the 2022 season. If his current ADP holds until September, he could end up being the steal of the draft yet again. Don’t let the quarterback or team history scare you from getting a mid-round steal.
