The Dallas Cowboys have long moved on from Brandin Cooks, but the veteran receiver’s next stop still lands with a familiar kind of sting.
While the club prepares to fly to Brazil for Thursday’s Week 3 meeting with the Baltimore Ravens, reports indicate Cooks is joining the San Francisco 49ers practice squad, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The move gives the 13-year veteran a chance to work his way back onto a game-day roster and chase the last 189 receiving yards he needs to reach 10,000 for his career.
Cooks arrived in Dallas before the 2023 season as a proven deep threat and reliable veteran presence. Over two years he appeared in 26 games, catching 80 passes for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Those numbers never quite matched the production he posted earlier in his career, when he posted six 1,000-yard seasons. Injuries limited him to missing eight games across those two Cowboys seasons, and the offense never fully settled into a rhythm with him as a consistent third option behind CeeDee Lamb.
By the time 2025 arrived, Dallas had already begun looking elsewhere at receiver.
That chapter now feels distant. The Cowboys opened 2026 with a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants before bouncing back with a 37-20 win over Washington.
Their immediate concern is the Ravens, a physical team that will test both the running game and a secondary that cannot afford more absences.
Practice this week, a long flight, and questions about field conditions in Brazil leave little room for nostalgia about a former teammate signing elsewhere.
Still, Cooks’ journey is a reminder of how quickly NFL careers turn. The former first-round pick out of Oregon State has now played for five franchises. After leaving Dallas he split last season between the Saints and Bills.
At this stage of his career the 49ers offer a practical landing spot: a team dealing with receiver injuries that can use his experience in the slot while he gets up to speed.
For Dallas, the focus stays on getting the ground game going and forcing Baltimore off the field on third down.
A 2-1 start would put the Cowboys in a healthier position than they occupied a year ago. Cooks chasing 10,000 yards in another uniform is simply the latest reminder that the roster they have now is the one that has to deliver in Brazil and beyond.
The past two seasons with him produced flashes but not consistency. The present season will be judged on whether this group can find that consistency without him.
