Brandin Cooks — Biography
If you’re an American Football fanatic, you would be familiar with “Cookie.” No, of course not the eatables but the Wide Receiver for National Football League (NFL) — Brandin Cooks.
Brandin Tawan Cooks, born on 25th September 1993, is a speedy wide receiver for the Houston Texans of the NFL. Cooks, a Christian by religion, was born to Worth Cooks Sr. and Andrea Cooks in Stockton, California. He, along with his three brothers, was raised by his mother after his father died due to a heart attack when Cooks was only six years old (1).
Attending Lincoln high school, the 5 ft 10 inches tall and 83 kg (183 lb) heavy Brandin Cooks played high school football for the Trojans (2) and in his sophomore year, he recorded 7 touchdowns and 29 receptions for 600 yards. By junior year, in addition to collecting 3 interceptions on the defensive side of the ball, Cooks had 10 touchdowns and 46 receptions for 783 yards. He wrapped up with 11 touchdowns and 66 receptions for 1,125 yards in his senior year, finally being ranked by the Rivals.com recruiting network as the 26th best wide receiver. In his class, Cooks was ranked as the 240th overall prospect by the same recruiting network. At high school, he also ran track and played basketball.
For college, Cooks initially joined UCLA but then he changed to Oregon State University and played football under head coach Mike Riley from 2011 to 2013 (3). As a college freshman, Cooks started by recording 3 receptions for 26 receiving yards in the first match. He played a total of 12 games that year, recording 3 touchdowns and 31 receptions for 391 yards (4). Next, Cooks began his college sophomore year with 1 receiving touchdown and 6 receptions for 80 receiving yards. He ended the year with a total of 5 touchdowns and 67 receptions for 1,151 yards. In the following year, Brandin Cooks began with 2 receiving touchdowns and 13 receptions for 196 receiving yards. 2013 left Cooks with 16 receiving touchdowns and 128 receptions for 1,730 yards, making him a consensus “All-American” and a “Fred Biletnikoff Award” winner. Following Mike Hass, Cooks was the second player to receive Biletnikoff Award in the Oregon State (5). His collegiate career crowned him with receiving 1st place in touchdowns, 2nd in receptions, and 3rd in receiving yards, putting him among the best in school history (6). In addition to these, he received the “All-Pac-12 Honourable Mention” and “Hawaii Bowl Champion” Award as well. Apart from football, Cooks also ran track at his college and stood second in the 60-meter dash at the 2012 UW Invitational (7).
With his exceptional performance at college football, Cooks forfeited his last college year to enter the 2014 NFL Draft and was selected as the 20th overall pick in the first round by the New Orleans Saints (8). Cooks signed a four-year contract, worth $8.3 million, with the Saints and made his debut against the Atlanta Falcons (9). He finished the 2014 season with 3 receiving touchdowns and 53 receptions for 550 receiving yards. Brandin Cooks had an outstanding performance throughout the 2015 and 2016 season while playing for the Saints, and his 10 yards per target ranked 6th among NFL wide receivers (10). In 2017, Cooks was traded by the Saints to New England Patriots. Making his debut with the Patriots six months later, Cooks had 3 receptions for 88 receiving yards in the NFL Kickoff Game against Kansas City Chiefs (11). Cooks wrapped up his season with the Patriots claiming the AFC championship. New England Patriots traded Brandin Cooks, in 2018, to Los Angeles Rams with whom Cooks signed a 5-year contract. His Rams debut began with catching 5 passes for 87 receiving yards, making them victorious over the Oakland Raiders (12). Cooks crowned the 2018 season with 5 receiving touchdowns and 80 receptions for a career-high 1,204 receiving yards. In the following season, Cooks started off performing well but ended up suffering a concussion that resulted in a decrement of his total score. Later on, in the 2020 NFL Draft, Cooks was traded to Houston Texans and concluded the season with 6 receiving touchdowns and 81 receptions for 1,150 receiving yards (13).
Currently, Brandin Cooks is one of the two players to record a 1,000-yard receiving season, with four teams, in NFL history. With a net worth of $14 million, Cooks is expecting his first child with his wife Briannon Lepman whom he married in 2018 (14). He is known to have donated $50,000, in 2020, to help establish Stockton’s Children’s Fund.
