The Cowboys did not acquire wide receiver Brandin Cooks in order for him to become just another offensive weapon. They’re putting plans in place to ensure he gets involved in as many situations as possible, which shouldn’t be difficult with CeeDee Lamb lining up alongside him.
And, as The Athletic’s Jon Machota recently learned, Dallas’ idea is to physically line up Cooks and Lamb next to each other… as in immediately next to each other.
The objective is to frequently line up Cooks next to Lamb, forcing opposing safeties to choose who they will double. It’ll be Lamb a lot, which should lead to a lot of big plays for Cooks, who appears to be in great shape heading into his 10th NFL season.
As brilliant as Cooks is and as impressive as his career has been, it’s difficult to dispute that if an opposing defense had to choose between doubling him and doubling Lamb, the focus would move to the latter a large percentage of the time.
As a result, as Machota points out, Cooks might be in line for a handful of big-play opportunities for the Cowboys right away in 2023.